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RATIONAL DIET 












RATIONAL DIET 


AN ADVANCED TREATISE ON THE 
FOOD QUESTION 


BY 

OTTO CARQITE 

-n 


lioa AngrUa 

Timgs-Mirror Press 



Copyright, 1923, by 
OTTO CARQUE 
Los Angeles, Calif. 


DEC -3 73 


© cU 7Q61'42 






PREFACE 



The aim of this book is to disseminate a better knowledge of 
diet in its relation to health and disease, in plain non-technieal 
language, understandable to all who seek more scientific informa¬ 
tion on this vitally important subject. Health and success in the 
life of the individual, as well as of nations, depend primarily on 
living in harmony with nature’s laws, on the intelligent conserva¬ 
tion of our vital forces and on the development of our highest 
mental faculties. 

There is no doubt that man could wonderfully increase his 
capacity for physical and intellectual work by paying proper atten¬ 
tion to the principles of rational nutrition, thus insuring normal 
functioning of all the bodily organs. The proverb mens sana in 
corpore sano —“a sound mind in a sound body”—is true for all 
time. 

The author’s interest in the food question developed early in 
life, when he recognized the inadequacy of the prevailing methods 
of cultivating food products and of artificially preparing them for 
the table. For thirty years, both in Europe and America, he has 
been a close student of the laws of diet and health, and his writings 
are well known. The present volume is the result of many years 
of careful study of the subjects of food chemistry and nutrition. 
The author has stressed the value of organized mineral elements, 
or organic salts, which are the most essential factors in the normal 
growth of the body in maintaining vitality and increasing its 


v. 


VI 


PREFACE 


power of resistance. Indeed, the wonderful creative work of nature 
throughout the plant and animal world is largely due to the actions 
and reactions of the mineral elements and their vibratory forces, 
whose great importance in the processes of life and growth is just 
beginning to be recognized. 

If human welfare is enhanced through a more general applica¬ 
tion of the principles outlined in this volume, the author will 
consider that his efforts have been well repaid. 

The author wishes to express his gratitude to Conrad Seiler and 
Charles Whipple for contributing many valuable suggestions and 
criticisms in connection with the preparation of the present volume. 

OTTO CARQUE 

Los Angeles, California, September, 1923. 


CONTENTS 


Page 


Preface .V 

Introduction .XI 


PART I 

Chemistry of Foods 

With Special Reference to the Organic Salts 

Chapter I 

Matter and Energy .3 

The atomic and electronic theories. The law of vibration. The law 
of conservation of energy. 


Chapter II 

The Problem of Life and Growth .17 

Protoplasmic development and characteristics of living matter. The 
process of digestion. Consciousness. The potentialities and mystery 
of life. 


Chapter III 


Sunlight and Air .25 

Their beneficial influence in the growth and development of the body. 
John Blayton’s experiment with bean plants. The necessity of air and 
sun baths. Ventilation. 


Chapter IV 


Water .34 

Soft and hard water; rain water, spring water, mineral water and 
distilled water. Fresh fruits and vegetables, the purest and most whole¬ 
some sources of water supply for the body. 

Chapter V 


The Constituents of Food .42 

How the chemical elements and their combinations build up the plant 
and animal world. The nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous compounds. 
Organic salts, vitamins, etc. 


Chapter VI 


Proteins .49 

Their formation from amino acids. Chemical composition and classifi¬ 
cation of proteins. Amount necessary for normal growth and nutrition. 


vii 










CONTENTS 


vm 


Chapter VII 

Fats .62 

Sources and composition. Fatty acids. Hydrogenation of fats. Essen¬ 
tial oils. Lecithins and cholesterins. 

Chapter VIII 

Carbohydrates .67 


Sugars, starches, pectins and cellulose, the principal sources of heat and 
energy in nutrition. Injuriousness of refined sugar. 

Chapter IX 

The Organic Acids .79 

Their composition and distribution in fruits and vegetables. Fruit acids 
as distinguished from free acids. 

Chapter X 

The Organic Mineral Elements or Organic Salts 

<( The Missing Link in Dietetics” .83 

Organic salts, the real building stones of the body. Their importance 
in the prevention and cure of disease. Organic versus inorganic elements. 

Chapter XI 

Variation of the Percentage of Mineral Elements and Their 
Polaric Distribution in Foods .97 

The great difference in the chemical analysis of the same kind of food 
products derived from different soils or different animals. 

Chapter XII 

The Acid-Binding (Alkaline) Elements .106 

Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese and aluminum. 
Their chemical properties and physiological functions. 

Chapter XIII 

The Acid-Forming Elements .132 

Phosphorus, sulphur, silicon, chlorine, fluorine, iodine and arsenic. Their 
chemical properties and physiological functions. 

Chapter XIV 

The Vitamins .146 

Their classification and relation to the development of plants and animals. 
Vitaipjns only active in the presence of organic salts. 

Chapter XV 

The Soil in Relation to Food and Health .153 

Erroneous theories of fertilization. The importance of mineral ferti¬ 
lizers in improving the products of the soil ^nd in the prevention of 
plant diseases. Fruits and vegetables grown on properly fertilized soil 
essential for the preservation of health and vitality. 











CONTENTS 


IX 


PART II 

Foods—Their Origin, Nutritive and Hygienic Value 
and Their Relation to Health and Disease 

Chapter I 


Man’s Natural Diet .169 

The geological and climatic changes during the pre-historic periods and 
their influence upon diet. Man frugivorous by nature. The temporary 
change in his original diet. The beginning of agriculture. 

Chapter II 

Fruits of the Temperate and Tropical Zones .176 

Nature’s most wholesome products. Fruit sugar, nature’s great source 
of potential energy. Medicinal value of fruits. The value of dried 
fruits. Injuriousness of sulphured fruit. Descriptions and analyses of 
the best known varieties. 


Chapter III 


Nuts .239 

Nature’s most concentrated foods. Their digestibility and place in the 
human dietary. Descriptions and analyses of the best known varieties. 

Chapter IV 


Vegetables .270 

Their importance in supplying the alkaline elements. General classifi¬ 
cation: Vegetable fruits, green leaf vegetables, stems, tubers and roots. 

Chapter V 

Cereals, Legumes and Miscellaneous Food Products . . . 298 

Their cultivation and place in the human dietary. Bread falsely called, 
“The Staff of Life.” The injurious effect of the modern milling pro¬ 
cesses. Comparative analyses of cereals and legumes. Oily seeds, sugar 
cane, honey and maple sugar. 

Chapter VI 


Dairy Products .324 

Milk as a human food. The great variation in the chemical composition 
of milk. Changes caused by pasteurization, sterilization and fermenta¬ 
tion. Cow’s milk and goat’s milk. Milk for infants. Various fermented 
milk products. Eggs, their chemical composition and food value. 

Chapter VII 


Flesh Foods .341 

The origin of meat eating in the human race. Consumption of meat in 
the principal countries. Flesh foods not essential for the attainment of 
health and vigor; their use considered from a sanitary, economical and 
ethical point of view. 








X 


CONTENTS 


Chapter VIII 

Dehydration of Foods .365 

Modern dehydrating processes used in food preservation. The advantage 
of dehydrated foods over canned foods. 

Chapter IX 

The New Agriculture .383 

The great importance and possibilities of fruit tree culture and its advan¬ 
tages over the cultivation of cereals. 

Chapter X 

Stimulants and Narcotics .401 

Their increasing consumption and degenerating influence. Alcoholic 
beverages, coffee, tea, mat6, kola, cocoa and chocolate, opium, hemp, 
coca, tobacco, salt, etc. 


Chapter XI 

Adulteration of Food and Drink .422 

Extensive use of adulteration in manufacturing food products. Pure 
food laws do not protect the unwary. 

Chapter XII 

Faulty Nutrition and Disease .439 

Prevalence of disease in the United States. The increasing consump¬ 
tion of devitalized, demineralized and acid-forming foods one of the 
leading causes of malnutrition, enervation and functional diseases. The 
fallacy of the germ theory and vaccination. 

Chapter XIII 

Medical Science and the Cure of Disease .454 

The error of medical science. The futility of vivisection and serum 
therapy. The most prevalent diseases, enlarged tonsils and adenoids, 
constipation, cancer, diabetes, rheumatism, hardening of the arteries, 
diseases of the liver, tuberculosis and climatic diseases discussed from 
the standpoint of nature cure. 

Chapter XIV 

Regeneration through Diet .475 

Preparation and combination of foods. The selection of a simple and 
wholesome dietary. A rational system of diet based on the results of 
biology and physiological chemistry as outlined in this book, the most 
essential factor in rejuvenating the human body, increasing its immunity 
against disease, and in the prolongation of life. Conclusion. 

Appendix 

Tables of Food Analyses .493 

Mendeleeff’s table of periodicity. Complete analyses of over 200 food 
products, showing the amount of the different organic salts in 1,000 parts 
of water free substance. Tables comparing the amounts of protein, 
sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and chlorine in foods. 


Bibliography .517 

Index .521 












INTRODUCTION 


Never in the history of civilization has mankind made such 
material progress as during the latter part of the nineteenth and 
the beginning of the twentieth centuries. This has been an age of 
great inventions. Steam and electricity have revolutionized com¬ 
pletely the ways and means of transportation; the telephone, tele¬ 
graph and radiograph have minimized the time of communication; 
the automobile has brought city and country more closely together, 
while the aeroplane has still further conquered time and space. 

Enormous individual fortunes have been accumulated by those 
in a position to profit by the advantages that modern machinery 
and a rapid increase of land values afford. While the aggregate 
wealth of the leading nations has increased immensely, it appears 
to the close observer that our much-boasted progress has been one¬ 
sided in many respects, since poverty and crime, famine and 
disease still hold their unabated sway in human society. 

The so-called infectious diseases, the terror of ancient, me¬ 
diaeval, and even semi-modern times, have more or less disappeared, 
because of improved sanitary conditions, better housing and drain¬ 
age, in short, thorough cleanliness, strictly enforced in the large 
centers of population. The plagues and fearful epidemics of old 
do not terrorize us any longer, but these have been replaced by 
another evil, which, more subtle and cunning in its workings, is 
none the less pernicious in its results. It is the belief that disease 
is an entity, the result of outward influences, instead of the cumu¬ 
lative effect of our perverted dietetics and hygienic habits. 

Those who have carefully studied the laws of health agree that 
the main source of disease is to be found in the declining quality of 
our food supply, the result of foolish attempts to improve on 
nature. Although food may be ample in quantity, modern machin¬ 
ery is constantly removing some of the important elements, and in 
many cases adulterants and poisonous preservatives are added to 
disguise the inferior quality. According to our present knowledge, 
there are about eighteen elements required to build the human 
body. These elements, which must be supplied in an organized 
form by our food, may be called “the building stones of the body.” 


xi 


Xll 


INTRODUCTION 


And since they constitute the organic salts and are the constructive 
agents for the final erection of the ideal physical man, they can¬ 
not with impunity be dispensed with or inorganic material sub¬ 
stituted in their stead, for lack, or deficiency, of any of these 
elements will in time cause serious disturbance, and ultimately 
wreck the human edifice. Nearly all diseases that have baffled 
the medical profession may be traced to some deficiency in our 
diet, and it may be truthfully said, that at least ninety per cent 
of human ailments are traceable to inadequate nutrition. Yet in 
no field of study and observation has medical need been more 
insufficiently met than in that of rational dietetics, both in relation 
to the maintenance of health, and to the treatment of disease. It 
is, in fact, amazing to the conscientious student to note the almost 
universal failure to fully recognize the importance of the organic 
salts in the compilation of books on physiological chemistry, and 
in the general attitude of so-called medical authorities toward this 
fundamental subject. 

At one time calories, or heat units, were thought to be a suffi¬ 
ciently substantial foundation upon which to build a system of 
healthy nutrition, but this was abandoned as a delusive method 
for determining the nutritive food value of food. Substances that 
show a very high caloric value may often lead to starvation because 
of their deficiency in organic salts, and other elements of nutrition. 

Neither can the recently discovered vitamins, important as they 
are, solve the problem of building a strong and healthy organism, 
since they supply neither energy nor tissue-building substances. 
Vitamins appear to be integral parts of all plant protoplasm, and 
to be primarily connected with the germination and development 
of seeds and the nourishment of the young plant. While vitamins 
are admittedly essential, they can be active factors in the health of 
the human and animal organism only when the organic salts are 
present. 

It is highly important, therefore, to study the chemical com¬ 
position of all foods regarding the amounts of the mineral elements 
they contain, in order to determine their true nutritive and 
hygienic value. Comparatively few analyses of this kind have been 
made in this country. As early as 1904 the author wrote to Dr. 
Harvey W. Wiley, then chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, a 


INTRODUCTION 


xm 

branch of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., 
and this was his reply: 

“I regret to say that no one in this country has undertaken a 
complete analysis of all the mineral constituents of foods. An 
analysis usually relates to the nutritive value and general com¬ 
position, but does not give, as a rule, the composition of ash. 

“I think it is highly desirable that the composition of ash be 
carefully studied and hope that some chemist will take that matter 
up in the near future. 

“ Respectfully, 

(Signed) “H. W. Wiley.” 

In Europe the importance of this branch of dietetics was 
recognized at a much earlier date, and numerous analyses have 
been made determining the percentage of the various elements in 
foods, especially by the German chemists, Drs. Koenig and Wolff. 
While Baron Justus von Liebig was one of the first to establish a 
new system of agricultural chemistry, we owe a great deal to the 
far-seeing genius of Dr. Julius Hensel. He, by his tireless investi¬ 
gations and observations, clearly demonstrated the importance of 
the mineral elements for the healthy growth of the plant, as well 
as of the human and animal body. He was followed by Dr. H. 
Lahmann, of the world-renowned sanitarium, “Weisser Hirsch,” 
near Dresden, Saxony. Lahmann published a number of books 
in which he showed that the deficiency of certain organic salts and 
the resulting retention of toxins in the body are the causes of the 
majority of functional diseases. In applying his discoveries in his 
sanitarium he met with remarkable success, and many representa¬ 
tives of Europe’s nobility were among his patients. Lahmann’s 
dietetic treatment of disease is now practiced in nearly all the 
leading Nature Cure sanitariums of Europe. A successor of Dr. 
Lahmann, Dr. Ragnar Berg, has published a valuable book, in 
which he gives complete analyses of a large number of foods. Dr. 
M. Hindhede, of Copenhagen, who made many interesting experi¬ 
ments in nutrition, may also be mentioned here. 

Another German physician who paid special attention to the 
subject of mineral elements in foods was Dr. William Schuessler, 
of Oldenburg. His system of bio-chemistry, which he employed 
extensively in the treatment of disease, included the inorganic 
elements, that, possibly, have a temporary and stimulating effect, 
but produce no permanent cure. A similar system of healing by 
the application of cell salts has been propounded by Dr. George 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


W. Carey, of Los Angeles, who has published a number of interest¬ 
ing books on his theories. While the works of the early bio-chem¬ 
ists have revealed some important truths, the fact can never be too 
strongly emphasized that the highly developed human body, in 
order to maintain supreme health and efficiency, requires the 
elements of nutrition in an organized form, as found in the cells 
of natural foods. 

Dr. A. Gautier of Paris, and Dr. Alexander Haig of London, 
have also made some valuable contributions to the new science of 
nutrition, and their works are well known to students of dietetics. 
Sampson Morgan of Tenterden, Kent (England), has made valu¬ 
able studies in regard to the importance of mineral elements in the 
fertilization of the soil which he described in his books “Clean 
Culture/’ and “The New Soil Science.” 

Among the early pioneers in America, who stood firmly for 
natural methods of living and healing, must be mentioned Dr. 
Sylvester Graham, Dr. Russel T. Trail and Dr. A. F. Reinhold. 
They have laid the foundation for a better understanding of the 
relation of diet and disease and of natural methods in the resto¬ 
ration of health. Although their work found but little recognition 
during their lifetime, still they paved the way for a rapidly 
and constantly increasing number of nature cure physicians and 
dietitians. Among those who deserve much credit for their untir¬ 
ing efforts in educating the people to a better knowledge of the laws 
of life, may be mentioned: Drs. B. Lust, Elmer Lee and Eugene 
Christian of New York City; Dr. John H. Kellogg of Battle Creek, 
Michigan; Drs. H. Lindlahr, J. Drews and Y. G. Rocine, of 
Chicago; Dr. R. L. Alsaker, of St. Louis; Dr. J. H. Tilden, of 
Denver; Dr. Harry Ellington Brook, editor of the “Care of Body,” 
Los Angeles Times; Drs. George Starr White, Axel Emil Gib¬ 
son, Philip Lovell and John T. Richter, all of Los Angeles, 
California. The late Professor Arnold Ehret, who conducted a 
large sanitarium in Switzerland, before he came to California, may 
also be included among these pioneers. 

Special attention should be called to the extensive nutrition 
experiments of Professor Meyer E. Jaffa, of the University of 
California, to which more detailed reference is made in the pages 
of this book. As early as 1900 Professor Jaffa made a number of 
dietary studies with fruitarians as subjects. 


INTRODUCTION 


xv 


Professor E. P. Forbes, and others of the Ohio Agricultural 
Experiment Station, have made very interesting investigations in 
regard to the mineral metabolism of farm animals, especially of 
the milch cow, which have been published in a number of bulletins. 
Bemarr McFadden, Milo Hastings and Alfred McCann, of New 
York City, are doing most valuable work in educating the coun¬ 
try through their publications and books, and seem to enjoy an in¬ 
creasing appreciation. Professor E. Y. McCollum of Johns Hop¬ 
kins University, Baltimore, devoted considerable study and research 
to the vitamin theory. He published his results in his book, “The 
Newer Knowledge of Nutrition.” 

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made in the science 
of nutrition for the last thirty years, diet-reform is progressing 
slowly. We are living in an age of commercialism, and millions 
of dollars have been invested in the manufacture of demineralized 
food products, for which a large demand has been created by 
shrewd, misleading advertisements, often supported by statements 
of chemists, evidently hired for the occasion. The general public, 
devoid of exact knowledge concerning food values, buys these im¬ 
poverished products, unaware of the fact that they gradually 
undermine health and vitality. 

We are spending billions of dollars in guns, battleships and 
the maintenance of armies and navies while but an insignificant 
amount is given for improving the quality of our food, and, inci¬ 
dentally, of the soil from which it draws its sustenance. Careful 
analyses of all food products should be made frequently to deter¬ 
mine the amounts of the different organic salts they contain, as 
this is the only sound basis upon which a system of rational nutri¬ 
tion can be established. 

It is from these points of view that the author has given the 
subject of foods and nutrition most careful study for the past 
thirty years, and has published a number of small treatises, now 
out of print. These publications have been enlarged upon in the 
present volume, which especially treats the subject of organic salts 
in food, and their relation to health and disease —the missing link 
in dietetics. 

The problem of nutrition, its relation to the growth and develop¬ 
ment of plant and animal organisms and to the action and re¬ 
action of the elements constituting the organic world, are better 
understood if we give a general survey of the electronic theories 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION 


of matter, atomic vibration and of the evolution of cell life. These 
theories, which have been fully accepted by the leading scientists, 
show what the material manifestations of life are thought to be, 
and how the wonderful psychic force of the creative processes is 
reaching down to the atomic groups of the different elements, 
drawing them to itself, and transmitting them into organic life in 
the form of the organized cell. Health means normal digestion, 
assimilation and elimination. All these depend upon normal 
atomic cell vibration, arising from a perfect equilibrium of the 
life elements. 

Despite the unprecedented material progress of mankind during 
the past generation, there still remains one great obstacle to the 
general advancement of human welfare and happiness. It is the 
almost appalling ignorance of the average individual regarding 
the laws of his being. Unfortunately, much that is called educa¬ 
tion at present simply renders a man unfit to successfully fight the 
battle of life. The great need of our time is a saner and more 
wholesome standard of living, upon which a new and higher civili¬ 
zation must be built. 

Having realized these important facts, the author has tried to 
outline a rational system of diet, giving a concise, yet comprehen¬ 
sive view of the chemistry of foods, their origin, cultivation, 
nutritive and hygienic value and showing at the same time the 
pitfalls into which the artificial and irrational preparation of our 
foodstuffs will ultimately lead. Faulty nutrition is one of the 
principal causes of degeneration, disease, suffering and premature 
death. The foundation of all lasting reform must therefore begin 
with the purification of the body which naturally leads to the im¬ 
provement of the intellectual and moral faculties. 

Those who have acquired a deeper understanding of the true 
relation of food to health will realize that diet reform, which, in 
a larger sense, means the mental and physical regeneration of the 
individual, must become one of the most essential of all reforms, 
and that only by making the unit, the individual, in society healthy 
and self-supporting shall we be able to solve successfully the social 
and economic problems that confront the world today. Dietetic 
and hygienic habits have always been a most important factor in 
the rise and downfall of nations. Likewise the source and purity 
of its food supply will remain one of the most vital factors in 
the progress and welfare of the human race. 


PART I 


CHEMISTRY OF FOODS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 

TO THE ORGANIC SALTS 








RATIONAL DIET 


CHAPTER I 

Matter and Energy 


It is difficult to delve deeply into the phenomena which con¬ 
tinually present themselves in all animate and inanimate matter, 
without a clear comprehension of the great unchanging laws that 
govern the evolution of suns and planets, as well as the formation 
of the grains of sand washed by the ocean wave; of the laws that 
reveal themselves both in the growth of giant trees which have 
stood the storms for thousands of years, and in the fragrant flower 
which grows beneath their shade and dies at the end of a summer; 
of the laws that govern the birth and death of men who may walk 
the earth a century or more, as well as the microbe whose existence 
spans but a day or an hour. 

In elucidating our present subject we have to consult pri¬ 
marily two branches of science—chemistry, dealing with the com¬ 
position and transformation of matter, and physics, which inves¬ 
tigates the transformation of energy and the laws which govern it. 

Chemical analysis of all the various forms of matter, gases, 
liquids and solids, has led to the discovery of more than ninety 
distinct substances called elements, which cannot be separated by 
any ordinary means now at our disposal, into simpler substances. 
The science of chemistry is divided into two branches—inorganic 
chemistry, dealing with the chemical composition of inanimate 
matter; and organic chemistry, which is concerned with the more 
or less complex compounds found in, or derived from, plants and 
animals. 

Energy manifests itself in different forms of which we may 
distinguish the following: 

Energy of gravitation Electrical energy 

Energy of heat Magnetic energy 

Energy of elasticity Radiant energy 

Energy of cohesion Vital energy 

Chemical energy (affinity of the elements) 


3 


4 


RATIONAL DIET 


These various forms of energy may not be distinct from one 
another, but simply represent so many different manifestations of 
higher or lower potentiality. * Life is the most complex expression 
of the transformation of matter and energy. 

The ninety elements are, figuratively speaking, the building 
material of our planet, solar system, and probably of the universe; 
but undoubtedly there are a number of elements in the universe 
that still await discovery. Most of the elements which make up the 
surface of our planet are easily obtained, while others exist in such 
small quantities, hidden among other substances, that they are ex¬ 
tracted only with the greatest difficulty. Thus the newly discovered 
element of radium, even in its impure state, is a thousand times 
rarer than gold. 

A number of the elements like gold and a few of the other 

heavier metals are generally found in the elementary state. Our 

- # 

atmosphere consists chiefly of the two elements, oxygen and nitro¬ 
gen, in the free state. Carbon, copper, silver and sulphur are 
occasionally found in the elementary state, but most of the elements 
exist in chemical combinations. The number of elements composing 
the materials which chiefly make up the organic part of our planet, 
including the plants and animals is comparatively small. The 
solid surface of the earth is mainly composed of substances such 
as quartz or flint, chalk or limestone and various combinations like 
feldspar and clay. The elements which are the chief constituents 
of these substances are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, phos¬ 
phorus, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, iron, manganese, potas- 
siunij silicon, chlorine and fluorine. 

In order to explain the intricate changes of matter chemists 
have adopted the atomic or molecular theory, which was first 
promulgated about 480 B. C. by the Greek philosopher, Leucippus, 
and later elaborated upon by Democritus of Abdera (460-371 
B. C.). About the year 1750 the Italian scientist, Boscovich, pre¬ 
sented this theory to the world in so clear a manner that it has be¬ 
come the accepted idea. In the beginning of the nineteenth century 
Dalton brought it to its present perfection by showing that matter 
is composed of indivisible particles or atoms in varying numbers 
and weights. So infinitesimal are these molecules that a billion of 
them are only barely visible with the most powerful microscope, 



MATTER AND ENERGY 


and a speck of matter, in order to be visible to the naked eye, like 
a grain of dust, must be a million times larger. 

The molecules of a given element always consist of a certain 
number of the same atoms, whereas those of compound or chemical 
combinations are aggregations of different atoms. Furthermore, 
the molecules which constitute a certain elementary substance, 
are alike in weight and general properties, but differ from the 
characteristics of the molecules making up some other elementary 
substance. For instance, the molecules of iron have different size, 
shape and weight than those of sulphur. 

The study of the changes which take place in the composition 
of molecules under the influence of various forces, and which result 
from their action upon one another, is the work of the chemist, 
while it is the field of the physicist to study the influences of those 
forces which affect matter without in any way altering its atomic 
structure, for instance, in the mechanical division of matter. 

To summarize the atomic theory of matter, as we know it 
today, we may give the following definitions: 

A molecule is the smallest particle of a substance that exists in 
a free state, and which has the same composition as any larger 
mass of the same substance. 

An atom is the smallest particle of an element that exists in any 
molecule. 

A compound is a substance whose molecules contain two or 
more kinds of atoms. 

An element is that part of a substance which contains only one 
or more of the same kinds of atoms. In mercury, for instance, 
one molecule consists of one atom only, and the two terms become 
congruent in this case. The molecule of hydrogen consists of two 
atoms, and that of phosphorus of four atoms. 

Another interesting fact should be mentioned here. It was found 
that out of the list of the ninety or more elements little groups 
could be selected with similar properties corresponding under cer¬ 
tain conditions to all the elements of other groups. In other words, 
the elements of one and the same group seemed to be related to 
each other. In the year 1863 the chemist, John Newland, pointed 
out that if the elements were arranged in tabular form in the 
order of their atomic weight they fell naturally into such groups; 
that elements similar in chemical affinity occurred in the same 
columns, and if, moreover, the number of the elements between 


6 


RATIONAL DIET 


any one and the next similar one was seven, the members of the 
same groups would stand in the same relation to one another as 
the extremities of one or more octaves in music. This wonderful 
relationship between the elements was further investigated by the 
Russian chemist, Mendeleeff, and the German scientist, Lothar 
Meyer, and resulted in the discovery of the periodic law, or the 
periodic system of elements, which may ultimately lead us to a 
more perfect knowledge of the history of evolution and the rhythmic 
laws governing the development of both organic and inorganic 
matter. In his interesting and instructive book, “The New Knowl¬ 
edge,’ ? Professor Robert Kennedy Duncan says: 

“This periodic law of the atoms is God’s alphabet of the uni¬ 
verse. By means of it, and by means of it only, can we ever hope 
to spell out the history and the future of creation. It lies here be¬ 
fore us lacking only the master word, the open sesame, to creation, 
and, who knows, to the Creator, too?” 

The relationship and periodicity of the properties, evident in 
the elements, has lead to the theory that the atoms of the elements 
are made up of still smaller particles, which act in the atom just 
as the atoms act in the molecule, and that atoms, as we know them, 
are the result of evolution from simpler forms. Further investi¬ 
gations revealed the fact that the slight conductivity of gases, may 
be vastly increased until they become good conductors; and this 
knowledge again led to the discovery of certain electrified parti¬ 
cles in gaseous form, the so-called ions, consisting of the positive 
particles which are simply called “ions” and the negative particles 
or “corpuscles.” While the size of an ion is about equal to that 
of an atom of ordinary matter, that of a corpuscle, is about a 
thousand times smaller than that of the hydrogen atom. The cor¬ 
puscles travel through space with wonderful velocity, ranging from 
10,000 to 100,000 miles a second, and from a comparison of the two 
kinds of ions, it appears that the negative corpuscles are far more 
important. They seem to be the carriers and workers and builders 
of the universe and all it contains. The corpuscles have led to the 
electronic theory of matter, and in that connection these particles 
are generally given another name. They are called electrons. 

Prof. J. J. Thomson, of the Cavendish Laboratories, of Cam¬ 
bridge, England, has perfected the theoiy of the electrons, for 
which work he was awarded the 1906 Nobel prize of $40,000. He 
has reached the conclusion in his electronic theory of matter, 


MATTER AND ENERGY 


7 


which is at present accepted by nearly all the leading scientists, 
that the electron is the ultimate unit of all matter. The atoms are 
made up of electrons or disembodied electrical charges in rapid 
motion; the atom of one elementary substance only is the number 
and arrangement of electrons contained in it. Thus it becomes 
clear, that the ultimate unit of which all matter is composed, is not 
matter at all, as we ordinarily understand the term, but electricity. 
Matter, then, is a pure hypothesis, and energy is the only reality. 
The electron, being a disembodied charge, contains no matter, 
and is the electrical unit. 

The electronic theory teaches that the atoms of all matter are 
composed of numerous electrons that are at all times in a constant 
state of motion or vibration; that the electron is the electrical 
unit, and that the negative electrons are greatly in excess of the 
positive; but that the positive electron controls the vibration of the 
negative ones and holds them within the atom; that vibration is 
the primal law of nature and is universal in its application, leaving 
nothing exempt from this law; that the atoms of matter themselves 
are made of negative charges of electrons, each aggregation of 
electrons being surrounded by a sphere of positive electricity; that 
consequently, matter, in its last analysis, is identical with elec¬ 
tricity. 

The atomic masses of the chemical elements differ as widely as 
1.01 for Hydrogen and 258 for Radium, and all intermediate 
orders of magnitude are met with. These masses are due to the 
electrical charges or number of electrons of which the atoms of 
all the elements are composed. The heavier atoms contain a larger 
number of electrons than the lighter ones—the approximate num¬ 
ber in any atom being expressed by the atomic weight of that atom 
in terms of Hydrogen as a unity, multiplied by 770, this being 
the number of electrons in a Hydrogen atom. 

In the appendix of this volume will be found a copy of Men- 
deleeff’s Periodic Table modified, showing the atomic weight and 
number of electrons in over seventy of the best known elements. 
Mendeleeff has also originated the conception that ether instead 
of being some mysterious form of non-matter as generally believed, 
is actually the lightest and simplest of the elements, and a definite 
form of matter. The atomic weight of ether he concludes to be 
nearly one-millionth of that of hydrogen, and its atoms conse¬ 
quently travel with enormous velocity. This extreme velocity he 


8 


RATIONAL DIET 


explains by the all-pervading character of the substance. An atom 
of ether must be infinitesimally smaller than the electron. 

The size of an electron must be at least one hundred-thousandth 
of the linear dimensions of an atom; a size with which its penetrat¬ 
ing power and other behavior is quite consistent. Assuming this 
estimate to be true, it is readily seen how very small these elec¬ 
trical particles are, compared to the atom of matter. If an electron 
is represented by a sphere an inch in diameter, the diameter of an 
atom of matter on the same scale is a mile and a half. In other 
words, each atom represents a miniature solar system in itself, 
with the electrons moving with very high velocity. Indeed, the 
different characteristics of chemical elements may be explained by 
the relative number of positive and negative electrons their atoms 
contain. On the other hand, the infinitesimal negatively charged 
electrons, whose diameter has been estimated to be about one sixth- 
trillion (1-6,000,000,000,000) of an inch, are alike, in every particu¬ 
lar. The atoms of the different elements are distinguished by the 
increasing mass and greater complexity of the nuclear charge, plus 
a progressive augmentation in the number of the surrounding elec¬ 
trons, the positive central charge determining the spatial arrange¬ 
ment of the revolving or vibrating electrons. A rate of wave vibra¬ 
tion has been measured to 762 trillions per second. 

The actual size of each kind of atom is not known, but it is 
assumed that the atoms increase in size with increasing atomic 
weight, the additional electrons, however, adding little to the total 
mass of the atom. The increase in atomic weight is due almost 
entirely to the nuclear charge, or positive ions. 

The most remarkable of these phenomena are the properties of 
the newly discovered and exceedingly rare element of radium, which 
exists in infinitesimal quantities in chemical combinations from 
which thus far it could be separated only in the form of radium 
salts. A little pinch of the salt radiates from its surface myriads 
of corpuscles possessing the wonderful velocity of over 100,000 
miles a second, a velocity sufficient to carry them, if unimpeded, 
five times around the earth in a second, while the masses of these 
tiny bodies are a thousand times smaller than the smallest estimated 
atom known to science. These corpuscles are charged with nega¬ 
tive electricity and pass straight through bodies considered opaque, 
regardless of the properties of the bodies, with the exception of 
their density. The substances which they strike will shine in the 


MATTER AND ENERGY 


9 


dark; they affect a photographic plate; they render the air a con¬ 
ductor of electricity, they cause clouds in humid air, and have a 
peculiar physiological action in the organic world. 

Our interest in the effects of radium rays on living organisms 
will be enhanced by the discovery that radio-activity is widely 
distributed in nature. It is probable that all plants and animals 
are adjusted to a normal degree of radio-activity in their environ¬ 
ment. Professor J. J. Thomson was the first to discover that the 
air bubbles in Cambridge spring water became decidedly radio¬ 
active. Subsequent researches of numerous physicists have taught 
us that this property belongs to the water of most deep wells, to 
freshly fallen rain or snow, to the spray at the foot of waterfalls, 
to the water of the ocean in certain localities, and probably to all 
spring waters. The presence of radio-activity in the earth’s atmos¬ 
phere has also been ascertained. The air in the soil is more 
strongly radio-active than air above the ground. Radio-activity, 
therefore, must be recognized as a factor in plant environment 
and plant physiology. 

The question now arises: How are the various forms of energy 
transmitted through space with almost inconceivable velocity? 
According to the atomic theory, now almost universally accepted, 
matter, as we know it, consists of an inconceivably large number 
of small particles, separated by a medium differing entirely from 
these particles in properties. This medium is known as ether. 
No ordinary matter is capable of transmitting the undulations or 
tremors which we call light at a velocity of 186,000 miles an hour. 
The theory is advanced that ether is a medium of extreme rarity 
and elasticity diffused through all space from star to star, filling 
the vast interplanetary and interstellar regions in the universe. 

Thus the electronic theory accounts for the different forms of 
electricity, magnetism, the radiation of light, chemical action, the 
periodic law of the elements, the phenomena of radio-activity and 
the physical basis of life. It may ultimately lead to the recogni¬ 
tion of the fact that chemical affinity and electrical attraction are 
one and the same; that the electric force between charged bodies 
is really chemical action at a distance; and that the chemical com¬ 
bination of atoms and molecules is due to their mutual electrical 
attraction. The theory is not yet fully proven, but it would appear 
to serve for the time being as a reasonable assumption that would 


10 RATIONAL DIET 

account in a plausible way for many phenomena in the organic 
world. 

The late Dr. Wm. Lawrence Woodruff of Long Beach, Califor¬ 
nia, explains the atomic vibration governing cell-life in his book 
“Therapeutics of Vibration,” published in 1907, but which, unfor¬ 
tunately, is now out of print. Dr. Woodruff says in part: 

* 1 The cell is the unit of life as the electron is the unit of matter, 
or, more properly speaking, of force. The cell is made up of a 
group of atoms, each containing numerous electrons, all in active 
vibration, and consequently electronic vibration is the material 
life of the cell. This being true of one cell, it is true of all. (The 
italics are mine.) 

“Electronic atomic cell vibration generates a magnetic field 
individualized for each group of cells forming the different organs 
and tissues. This is the law of selection or attraction which enables 
a cell or group of cells to select from the nutrient blood the ele¬ 
ments needed for its sustenance and explains why certain groups 
of atoms are drawn to a cell or group of cells and other groups 
pass by to be later attracted by other cells, and why the cell debris 
is thrown off from an uncongenial magnetic field back into circula¬ 
tion, by which it is carried on to the eliminating organs, where it 
is attracted, appropriated and formed into excretion and thus 
eliminated from the body. 

“The association of the different groups of electronic atomic 
elements in the cell or group of cells making up a given organ or 
tissue, means an attunement of unison of the atomic cell vibration 
with a magnetic atmosphere that is the peculiar property of the 
organ or tissue, and because of this specific magnetic atmosphere, 
the organ or tissue has the power of making selections which, 
speaking in general terms, are always the same. On the other 
hand, the different groups of cells called organs or tissues must 
have, within certain definite limits, the same general attunement 
of atomic cell vibration; for the whole organism must be attuned 
to the same general key. 

“That there may be some departure from the normal in the 
cell vibration of a certain organ of tissue is true, but this, if long 
maintained, will speedily effect the attunement of the whole organ¬ 
ism. Since the life of the cell is atomic cell vibration, the same is 
true of the mass of cells that make up the individual, and this be¬ 
ing so, there must be a normal and an abnormal cell vibration. A 
normal cell vibration means perfect health, and abnormal vibration 
means disease, suffering and ultimate death of the cell and of the 
mass of cells; or, in other words, the death of the individual. 

“Water is one of the principal compounds of the universe. It 
is also one of the principal elements that go to make up all cell 
life, be it vegetable or animal. About seven-eighths of all animal 
tissue is water. A molecule of water is composed of one atom of 


MATTER AND ENERGY 


11 


oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. In further analyzing the 
atoms of hydrogen and oxygen we find they are composed of 
electrons and nothing else, and the one and only difference between 
one and the other is that an atom of oxygen contains 11,550 elec¬ 
trons more than does an atom of hydrogen. From this it is 
apparent that water resolves itself, in an elementary sense, hack 
to the electron, which is the unit of electricity, and is in fact simply 
electricity and nothing else. I simply use this as an illustration 
of the point that all matter is electricity, and as an aid in fastening 
it firmly in the mind. 

“The cell being composed of different atomic groups, which 
are simply masses of electrons always in violent motion or vibra¬ 
tion, then the individual life, be it animal or vegetable, is simply 
a mass of individualized electrical force, always undergoing loss 
by spending itself in the performance of its functions, always 
changing its combinations, but always doing so according to fixed 
laws. Its energy is constantly being radiated into space and to 
neighboring organisms, and consequently it must be constantly 
restored to the organism from the different natural elements or 
atomic groups and neighboring individual organism. Thus, every 
organism is a collector of and a storage battery for this electrical 
force, and creates its own magnetic field. 

“In obedience to the law of supply and demand, ample pro¬ 
vision is made in every organism for the collection and storage of 
this electrical force. Owing to a too intense life or too rapid 
radiation or because some one or more of nature’s laws is not 
obeyed, this electrical force falls below the normal. The point 
most often neglected is that of supply, for a certain quantity of 
the material elements must be supplied and appropriated each day 
to make up for energy lost or expended. (The italics are mine.) 

“A definite quantity of water must be supplied to the system 
to take the place of that passed off by the skin and kidneys and 
that given off by the lungs. Going off with the water is a consider¬ 
able quantity of sodium chloride, and this waste must be made up. 
This is simply an example of what is taking place with regard to 
all the other elements, and all these deficiencies must be supplied 
by fresh material in the form of abundance of pure air, water, 
natural foods in adequate quantities, and moreover, the appropria¬ 
tion of the substances requires that the atomic cell vibration be 
sufficiently near the normal to attract them to the cells that are 
hungering for them. 

“Health means absolutely normal function, normal digestion, 
assimilation and elimination, and this means normal cell-feeding 
and perfect elimination of debris. All this depends upon normal 
atomic cell vibration and the other conditions named with it. Any¬ 
thing that interferes with normal cell vibration, normal distribu¬ 
tion of the vital stored up nerve forces, or normal voltage causes 
disease.” 


12 


RATIONAL DIET 


It is from this point of view that the study of the characteristics 
of the elements which make up the organic world becomes highly 
instructive and interesting. Although the electronic theory is new, 
attempts have been made already to commercialize it in the treat¬ 
ment of disease by means of doubtful devices. But as all perma¬ 
nent healing must come from within by the restoration of the 
equilibrium of the vital forces by means of right living, guided 
by a true understanding of the natural laws, these human make¬ 
shifts will be found wanting and soon recognized at their true 
value. 

The eighteen elements which build up the various forms of the 
vegetable and animal kingdom, also enter into the chemical com¬ 
position of the human body. They are: 

Atomle Atomio 


Hydrogen 

Symbol 

II 

Weight 

1 

Iron 

Symbol 

Fe 

Weight 

56 

Carbon 

c 

12 

Phosphorus 

P 

31 

Nitrogen 

N 

14 

Sulphur 

S 

32 

Oxygen 

0 

16 

Silicon 

Si 

28 

Potassium 

P 

39.1 

Chlorine 

Cl 

35.5 

Sodium 

Na 

23 

Fluorine 

F 

19 

Calcium 

Ca 

40 

Iodine 

I 

127 

Magnesium 

Mg 

24.4 

Aluminum 

A1 

27 

Manganese 

Mn 

55 

Arsenic 

As 

75 


Oxygen is the only element that enters the living organism in 
a free state as a part of the air we breathe. Most of the oxygen 
enters the organisms of plants as water (II 2 0) and carbonic acid 
(C 0 2 ). The other elements are taken up in more or less complex 
compounds. Carbon exists only to a very limited extent in the 
free state, such as graphite and diamond, or in coal, where it is 
more or less mixed with other substances. Carbon, in chemical 
combination with lime and magnesia, forms the surface of the 
earth’s crust. All of the carbon is or has been in the form of 
carbonic acid, and through this compound the element must always 
pass in its countless combinations. Carbonic acid is taken up by 
the plants, building with other elements the various food-materials 
for the animal world and returning free oxygen to the atmosphere. 
The animals in turn excrete carbonic acid or such waste products 
from which it is rapidly formed. Thus the balance of oxygen and 
carbonic acid is maintained in the atmosphere through the exchange 
of these gases by the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 


MATTER AND ENERGY 


13 


Hydrogen, which is the lightest of all the elements, occurs very 
seldom as a free gas. It is one of the constituents of water and, 
therefore, one of the most essential elements of the organic world. 

Nitrogen, forming about four-fifths of the atmosphere, has but 
a weak affinity for other elements. Only a comparatively small 
portion of it is found in inorganic compounds, through which it 
enters the vegetable kingdom. The free nitrogen of the air cannot 
be assimilated by the plant, except by aid of certain bacteria, 
which are found at the roots of leguminous plants. The other 
elements will be treated in Chapters X to XIII, dealing with the 
so-called organic salts. 

We shall briefly consider here the law of conservation of energy, 
a knowledge of which is necessary to understand the constantly 
changing forms and positions of matter in the organic, as well as . 
inorganic world. 

Over two thousand years ago the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, 
conceived the idea that every particle of the universe is in never- 
ceasing motion, and modern science has verified this theory by 
demonstrating that motion or energy, like matter, cannot be de¬ 
stroyed. 

According to our present conceptions, the sum total of all 
potential energy and of all kinetic energy in the universe always 
remains the same. For instance, an electric current represents a 
certain form of kinetic energy, which is able to split a chemical 
compound into its elements, by which a part of the kinetic energy 
apparently disappears, being converted into so-called chemical 
potential energy, represented in the separated atoms. By synthesis 
again, the potential energy they contain is again converted into 
kinetic energy, which appears to us as light and heat, as, for in¬ 
stance, when a flame is produced by the combination of carbon 
and oxygen. 

All, or most forms of energy appearing upon our planet, may be 
traced back ultimately to one common source, viz., to the waves of 
heat, light, magnetism and electricity emanating from the sun. 
Wind and wave, the formation of clouds, the falling rain, the flow¬ 
ing brooks and rivers, the power that turns water wheels, are 
forms of kinetic energy derived from the potential energy of the 
sun’s heat. Likewise all the material manifestations of plant and 


14 


RATIONAL DIET 


animal life are directly or indirectly derived from solar light and 
heat. 

Plants are constantly taking up carbonic acid and water, 
separating the oxygen from these compounds and thereby forming 
other combinations poorer in oxygen and with a great affinity for 
this element. As carbonic acid and water are fully oxidized com¬ 
pounds, no potential energy is conveyed to the plant by these 
substances. It is the kinetic energy of sunlight which again 
separates the oxygen from the carbon and hydrogen in the plant, 
forming compounds of potential energy. The plant liberates 
oxygen only in the sunshine and the amount of oxygen set free 
varies in direct proportion to the intensity of the light. Thus it 
becomes obvious that all the potential energy stored up in the 
products of the vegetable kingdom is converted sunlight. The 
burning candle, the glowing coal, are but sunlight in another form. 
The immense amount of potential energy lying in the vast coal 
fields of the earth, which keeps all the wheels of modern industry 
in motion, is only stored-up sunlight, which once shone upon the 
primeval forests of ferns and palms millions of years ago. 

Animals depend for their food on plants. The oxygen which 
is liberated from the water and carbonic acid in the plant by the 
kinetic energy of sunlight, is in the animal body again united with 
compounds deficient in oxygen, and the ultimate products of this 
combination are given off as carbonic acid and water, which serve 
again as food for the plant. The chemical energy of food is thus 
apparently used up; but we find an equivalent amount of other 
forms of energy appearing in the animal body, such as animal 
heat and muscular force. The sum of the work executed by an 
animal, and of the heat which it gives out, can, therefore, never 
exceed the amount of the chemical potential energy taken in with its 
food, and of the kinetic energy of sunlight used in the production 
of this potential energy by the plant. 

The German naturalist, Dr. Max Rubner, has taken up this 
subject with all the aids of modern science, and has succeeded in 
demonstrating the exact equivalents between the chemical potential 
energy taken up by the body in the form of food and the kinetic 
energy given out by the animal. In his laborious and painstaking 
work, covering a period of twenty years, and mainly published in 
his book, “The Laws of Consumption of Energy in Nutrition,” he 


MATTER AND ENERGY 


15 


has shown conclusively that the law of the conservation of energy 
rules in every department of animal life; that our body-heat, 
muscular energy and all our perceptible vital functions are trans¬ 
muted sunlight. It is very probable that our psychical functions, 
all our feelings, emotions, instincts and ideas are governed by the 
same law. We know that sensation is excited by a process of move¬ 
ment in the nervous system, and a muscular contraction is the 
result of an impulse of the will. Thus far, however, we do not 
possess any exact means of measuring the intensity of sensations, 
or of any other psychical conditions and processes. Emotions 
probably far exceed all other mental exertions in the expenditure 
of energy. We may ascertain that a portion of the brain sub¬ 
stance is consumed or oxidized in every mental effort, but we must 
also consider that the weight of the brain is less than one-fiftieth 
of that of the body, and that only a portion of the brain is active 
in mental functions. Even if we were able to measure our psychic 
forces, such as the will, we might not be able to maintain that they 
were simply converted potential energy. To be sure, our body is 
material and can act on other matter, and its energy is mainly 
derived from the oxygen of the air and food; but the question is 
whether our will or mind is directing our body’s forces along cer¬ 
tain lines to achieve desired ends, or whether all our physical and 
mental activities are dominated by mechanical causes. It seems to 
the casual observer that energy itself has no directing power and 
that inorganic matter is impelled solely by pressure back of it, 
following no preconceived course nor moving towards predeter¬ 
mined ends; as for instance, in case of an earthquake or the erup¬ 
tion of a volcano. On the other hand, may we not assume that 
life is more than a mere function of matter and energy; and, 
although dependent on matter for its phenomenal appearance, it 
is able, to a certain extent, to control or direct material forces? 
In the small acorn there is already the potentiality not only of one 
oak tree, but of an entire forest of oak trees; and although the 
potential energy stored up in an acorn is infinitesimally small as 
compared with an entire forest, still we cannot maintain that life 
has generated the smallest amount of energy; it can only guide 
its transformations according to nature’s laws, perhaps supple¬ 
menting these laws, but in no way contradicting or suspending 
them. 


16 


RATIONAL DIET 


A human body is formed according to the same laws of evolu¬ 
tionary development as a crystal, a microbe, a plant, a tree. This 
earth, the sun, our solar-system, the galaxy, all suns and worlds, 
the stellar universe; the simplest forms of life, the monera and 
protozoa, as well as flowers, animals and man are not the products 
of mere chance, the result of blind physical and chemical forces. 
They are all the expression of preceding stages of evolution, direct¬ 
ing the various forms of energy in certain defined channels of 
unfoldment. 

May we then not assume that in the universe there is an intelli¬ 
gence superior to that of man, who is but a speck of dust in infinite 
space, and whose life is hardly a second in eternity? The human 
brain, which seems to us the highest organization of matter and 
energy, is but the result of an all-pervading mind embracing the 
experience of eons and countless worlds, manifesting itself in the 
corpuscle, as well as in the largest sun, in the plant as well as in 
man, always leading onward and upward to higher forms of life 
and existence. 


CHAPTER II 


The Problem of Life and Growth 

The simplest form of organic matter capable of exhibiting the 
phenomena of life is called ‘ ‘ protoplasm, ” a word derived from 
the Greek, protos, meaning “first,’’ and plasma, ‘‘formed sub¬ 
stance.’ J Protoplasm possesses a viscous or jelly-like consistency. 
Under the strongest microscope it seems to be homogeneous, or 
slightly granulated, like a sheet of ground glass. Not only can 
it assimilate nutriment and increase in size, but it possesses the; 
power of spontaneous movement and contractility. It enters in a 
very important manner into the structure of the bodies of the 
lower animals. As a rule, however, in both vegetable and animal 
organisms, the specks or clumps of protoplasm assume definite 
shapes, showing evidence of internal differentiation. In the midst 
of a minute clump of this substance a sharply defined body called 
a nucleus is formed, which differs from the surrounding protoplasm 
in not being contractile. When a definite clump of protoplasm 
contains a nucleus in its interior, it is called a nucleated cell. The 
cell constitutes, therefore, the first step from protoplasm toward 
organized existence. 

Some of the lowest organisms consist merely of a single cell, 
others of two or more cells united. The cells, invisible as they are 
to the naked eye, are composed of billions of molecules, which 
again have a very complicated atomic structure. It has been 
shown that a molecule of protoplasm contains several thousands 
of atoms, giving us an idea of nature’s most intricate and wonder¬ 
ful work even in the lowest forms of life. 

Cells enter into the constitution of the textures of all higher 
forms of plants and animals. In the cell we have to search for the 
source of the vital currents which move the mechanism of the 
organic world. The most simple cell exhibits all the essential 
processes of life—nutrition, growth, reproduction, movement, 
reaction to stimulation. It displays even functions which act at 
least as a substitute for the psychical powers of higher organisms. 

The properties of living matter distinguish it absolutely from 


17 


18 


RATIONAL DIET 


all other substances, and the present state of knowledge furnishes 
us with no link between the organic and inorganic worlds. The 
distinctive properties of living matter are: 

1. Its chemical composition, containing one or more forms of 
a complex compound of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, 
the so-called ££ protein/ ’ united with a large proportion of water 
and certain mineral elements, forming the chief constituents of 
protoplasm. 

2. Its universal chemical disintegration and waste by oxidation 
and its simultaneous reconstruction by new matter. The process 
of waste resulting from the decomposition or re-organization of 
the molecules of the protoplasm, breaking them up into more highly 
oxidated products, which cease to form any part of the living body, 
is a characteristic of life. Carbon dioxide is always one of these 
waste products while the others, known as purin bodies, contain 
the remainder of carbon, the nitrogen, the hydrogen, and the other 
elements which may enter into the composition of the protoplasm. 

3. Its tendency to reproduce itself. In the general course of 
nature, all living matter proceeds from pre-existing living matter, 
a portion of the latter being detached and acquiring an indepen¬ 
dent existence. The new form takes on the character of the 
substance from which it arose, exhibits the same power of propa¬ 
gating itself by means of an offshoot, and sooner or later, like its 
predecessor, ceases to exhibit the phenomena pertaining to life 
and returns its component elements to the universal storehouse of 
nature. 

But in addition to these distinctive characteristics, living mat¬ 
ter has some other peculiarities, the chief of wdiicli are the depen¬ 
dence of all its activities upon moisture and heat, within a limited 
range of temperature, and the fact that it usually possesses a cer¬ 
tain structure or organization. A degree of heat sufficient to 
decompose protein matter, if sufficiently prolonged, destroys life 
by demolishing the highly intricate molecular structure upon which 
life depends. Recent investigations show that the immediate cause 
of the arrest of vitality and of its ultimate disappearance is the 
coagulation of certain substances in the protoplasm, and that the 
latter contains various coagulable matters which solidify at dif¬ 
ferent temperatures, ranging from 140 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. 

There are numerous forms of living matter which it cannot 


PROBLEMS OF LIFE AND GROWTH 


19 


properly be said possess either a definite structure, or permanently 
specialized organs; but the simple particles of living matter must 
have a highly complex molecular structure which is far beyond the 
reach of physical vision. Thomas Huxley in his “Lay Sermons” 
gives the following classic description of the physical basis of life: 

“Through the tube of my microscope I am watching the 
development of a speck of protoplasm. Strange possibilities lie 
dormant in that semi-fluid globule. Let a moderate supply of 
warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes 
changes so rapid and yet so steady and purpose-like in their suc¬ 
cession, that one can compare them to those operated by a skilled 
modeller upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible 
trowel, the mass is divided into smaller and smaller portions, until 
it is reduced to an aggregation of granules—not too large to build 
withal the finest fabrics of the nascent organism. And then it is 
as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be occupied by the 
coming spinal column and moulded the contour of the body; pinch¬ 
ing up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning 
flank and limb into due proportion in so artistic a way that after 
watching the process one is almost involuntarily possessed by the 
notion that some more subtle aid to vision than the chromatic 
would show the hidden artist, with his plan before him, striving 
with skillful manipulation to perfect his work.” 

The broad distinctions which, as a matter of fact, exist between 
every known form of living substance and every other component 
of the material world, justify the specialization in the study of 
the problems of life. 

We can never expect fully to explain the processes of life by the 
laws of physics and chemistry alone. The more thoroughly and 
conscientiously we endeavor to study biological problems, the more 
are we convinced that even those processes which we have already 
regarded as. explicable by chemical and physical laws, are, in real¬ 
ity, infinitely more complex, and at present defy any attempt at a 
mechanical explanation. 

Careful observations have revealed the fact that all unicellular 
organisms possess the power of selecting their food, of taking the 
useful and rejecting the useless. If this power of selecting food 
is possessed by a structureless mass of protoplasm, why should it 
not also be a function of the epithelium cells of the alimentary 
canal? Every epithelial cell is in itself an organism, a live being 
with the most complex functions. 

The small intestine, where the bulk of the nutritive material is 


20 


RATIONAL DIET 


absorbed, is covered with minute vascular projections—“villi”— 
proceeding from the mucous membrane throughout its whole ex¬ 
tent. The structure of the “villi,” whose total number amounts 
to about four millions, is indicated in the following illustrations: 



Linear enlargement about 50:1; the dark parts in the middle of each 
villus represent the lacteals which convey chyle during the process of diges¬ 
tion, while at other times they carry lymph; the lacteals are surrounded by 
lymphatics and capillary blood vessels. 



Diagrammatic section of a villus, showing the cells; linear enlargement 
about 300:1; ep-epithelium (only partly shaded in); e e e’-membrane and 
tissue-cells f Z-lacteal; l *-upper limit of the chyle-vessel; Zc-lymph corpuscles; 
?w-muscle fibres surrounding the lacteal; v-blood-vessels; c-fine net work (pro¬ 
toplasm) filling out the space between the cells. 








PROBLEMS OP LIFE AND GROWTH 


21 


All food materials after they have been acted upon by the 
digestive juices and broken down into simpler compounds, have 
to pass through the epithelium cells, and the mechanical part of 
the process called “osmosis,” can take place only when a variety 
of elements is present, so that the ingredients of the fluids on one 
side of the membranes are different in chemical composition from 
those on the other side. We can illustrate the process easily by 
immersing a bladder containing a solution of salt in pure water. 
In a short time both fluids begin to pass through the membrane 
towards each other until a uniform solution is attained. The same 
process is going on in the millions and millions of cells in our 
body, and without the mineral ingredients in the fluids no change, 
or hardly any, could be effected, and assimilation and nutrition 
would come to a standstill. 

Thus the mechanical part of food absorption may be explained 
by the laws of diffusion and osmosis. But the wall of the intestine 
does not behave like a dead membrane. Every epithelial cell is in 
itself an organism, a living being with the most complete function¬ 
ing. These cells prevent the absorption of a whole series of poisons, 
although the latter may be easily soluble in the gastric and intes¬ 
tinal juices. 

The activity of the glands and the processes of secretion show 
the same wonderful power of selection, of picking out certain 
constituents of the blood, of altering them by processes of synthesis 
and decomposition, of sending some into the ducts of the glands, 
and others back into the lymph and blood. The epithelial cells 
of the mammary gland collect all the organic salts from the blood 
which has an entirely different composition, in the exact proportion 
required by the infant. These phenomena cannot be explained 
simply by the mechanical process of osmosis. 

All of the cells of our body possess the same wonderful powers 
as the epithelial cells of the alimentary canal and of the glands. 
All tissues and organs are produced from a single ovum, and in 
proportion as the cells increase by segmentation, they become dif¬ 
ferentiated on the principle of the division of labor. Every cell 
acquires the faculty of rejecting some substances, of attracting 
others and storing them up, thereby attaining the composition 
necessary for the proper performance of all the physiological func¬ 
tions in the system. But as soon as life ceases, as soon as the vital 


22 


RATIONAL DIET 


phenomena stop, the ability of selecting substances likewise dis¬ 
appears in every cell of our body. Food itself does not produce 
life. It only keeps the vital currents flowing, by the chemical and 
physiological actions of the organism if the food materials are 
furnished in suitable quality and quantity. If the vital flame 
which keeps our heart pulsating is once extinguished the finest 
food and purest air can never light it again. Digestion and assimi¬ 
lation are processes of the living organism and have no analogy 
in the test tube of the chemical laboratory. 

Consciousness is not necessarily and entirely bound up within 
certain parts of the brain. It manifests or arises by inheritance 
through a simple cell, from which by repeated division, all of the 
cells and tissues of our body are derived, including those of the 
brain and cerebral hemispheres and other parts of the nervous 
system. The history of the evolution of function should parallel 
that of the evolution of structure. We can hardly assume that, 
as we trace the animal kingdom downwards to the unicellular 
organisms, the conscious life of the individual ceases at that exact 
point where a brain is no longer present, or even where we can 
no longer make out a specially differentiated nervous system. May 
not all life be conscious life; may not consciousness be an inherent 
attribute of all matter, manifesting itself wherever and whenever 
the proper physical conditions occur? 

Considered apart from the phenomena of consciousness, the 
phenomena of life are all dependent upon the working of the same 
eternal, universal laws which govern the rest of the world. The 
doctrine of evolution compels us to admit that consciousness must 
be present potentially in the simple protoplasm of the lowest forms 
of life, and must be present, consequently, in all the tissues of the 
highly developed animal instead of being confined to some limited 
portion of the nervous system. All of the parts and organs of the 
complex animal are the outcome of the differentiation of the 
primordial protoplasm, and there is no reason why this differ¬ 
entiation, which sets apart the nervous tissue from other parts 
of the body, should not operate in the nervous tissue itself, develop¬ 
ing the rudiments of consciousness present in all nervous material 
by differentiation, and in that particular kind of nerve substance, 
the brain cells, which are the seat of some higher form of conscious¬ 
ness. But we must unreservedly admit that very little has been 


PROBLEMS OF LIFE AND GROWTH 


23 


done towards the final solution of the great problem of life. Of 
its ultimate cause and innermost workings we know practically 
nothing. No chemist is able to isolate the life-principle from its 
original form of manifestation on earth—protoplasm. It is elusive 
and cannot be determined by the most subtle instruments of the 
laboratory. 

How is it that through a single spermatozoon, through a minute 
cell, thousands of which would hardly occupy a pin’s head, all the 
physical and intellectual peculiarities may be transmitted from 
father to son, or even to grandson? How wonderful must be the 
molecular structure, how complicated the interchange of forces, 
how intricate the forms of motion, in this small cell which shall 
direct all subsequent forms of motion and the physical develop¬ 
ment for generations! And how in this speck of matter—invisible 
to the naked eye—are the mental qualities evolved? Our present 
state of knowledge utterly fails to answer these questions. 

In the future the problems of physiology will be largely con¬ 
cerned with the structure and evolution of protoplasm. In these 
investigations inductive reasoning will play a far more important 
role than the microscope, although the latter may be improved by 
still more powerful lenses than we have today. Then we may 
ascertain ultimately the laws according to which protoplasm is 
built up, as well as the laws according to which it breaks down; 
for these laws when ascertained will help to explain the wonderful 
creative work which the protoplasm performs throughout the or¬ 
ganic world in the evolution of the amoeba to man. 

Future generations may overcome the stupendous difficulties 
which at present beset physiological investigations, and may come 
nearer to solving the mysteries of life which now puzzle the minds 
of the profoundest students of nature. In the meantime, let us 
not become too dogmatic. There is no reason to believe that the 
continuous progress of evolution should culminate in the present 
type of man. Far back in the dawn of the ages, when the pri¬ 
mordial sea covered this planet, animal life began in the lowest 
forms. The time may come when a race of men will develop as 
superior to ourselves in intellect as we are to our predecessors 
who inhabited the earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. We 
are on the threshold of a new civilization, but we cannot enter the 
promised land until we have made ourselves fit by a more thorough 


24 


RATIONAL DIET 


understanding and practice of the fundamental laws of life, as far 
as we have cognizance of them today. 

There are three factors which are most intimately connected 
with the problems of life and nutrition, viz., sunlight, air and 
water. They are most potent factors in the growth and develop¬ 
ment of the organic world, as will he shown in the two following 
chapters. 


CHAPTER III 


Sunlight and Air 

Most important for the preservation of health and vitality are 
sunlight and air. They are just as necessary for growth and per¬ 
petuation of life as liquid and solid food. “When the sun does not 
enter, the physician enters,’’ says an old proverb. It has been 
found that the greatest mortality occurs in the narrow streets of 
cities and in houses having northern exposure. The inhabitants 
of southern mountain slopes are stronger and healthier than those 
living on the northern sides. Inhabitants of secluded valleys where 
the sun rises late and sets early, are generally afflicted with 
peculiar diseases, chiefly due to a lack of direct sunlight and its 
salutary power to dissipate and decompose noxious vapors which 
accumulate in dark and low places. 

The sun indeed is the great and ultimate source of all power 
which manifests itself in the inorganic as well as in the organic 
formations of matter. Plants require sunlight above all, for the 
completion of their complicated organic combinations. While the 
lowest species of organic life, such as fungi, are capable of develop¬ 
ing in darkness, the higher plants which principally support 
animal life, always depend upon the rays of the sun for the proc¬ 
esses of assimilating the elements of soil and atmosphere. They 
require especially the non-illuminating, ultra-violet rays, which 
we know to be most active in the production of electro-chemical * 
effects. Likewise the animal body is to a large extent directly 
dependent on sunlight for its growth and healthy development. 

It is a well established fact that, as the result of an insufficiency of 
light, the fibrine and the red blood corpuscles become diminished 
in quantity, while the serum or watery portion of the blood is 
increased, inducing leukemia, a sickness characterized by a great 
increase in the number of white blood corpuscles. A total exclusion 
of the sunlight induces the severer forms of anemic diseases, origi¬ 
nating from an impoverished and disordered state of blood. 

Of the many experiments which have been made so far to 
demonstrate the beneficial effects of sunlight, that of John Blayton 


25 


26 


RATIONAL DIET 


is the most remarkable and significant. In order to determine 
whether the indirect or diffused daylight, perhaps during a longer 
period of time, has the same effect as the direct sunlight, he selected 
twelve bean plants of the same variety and in the same stage of 
development. Then he planted them in such a way near one an¬ 
other, that six always had full direct sunlight, wdiile the others 
received only the diffused daylight. In October the pods were 
harvested, and the weight of those grown in the shade or diffused 
light compared with that of those exposed to the sun rays was 
found to be in the proportion of 29:99; that of the dried 
beans 1:3. 

This result was to be expected, but in the following year, when 
all the plants grown from the same seed received the full amount 
of the direct sunlight, the surprising fact was ascertained that 
those which had been raised in the shade only yielded half the 
amount of the previous year’s harvest, while in the fourth year 
they blossomed but did not mature. The deprivation of direct 
sunlight during one summer weakened the stock to such a degree 
that the species became extinct after four years. 

The lesson of this experiment may be applied with great benefit 
to men and their daily habits. The highly beneficial effect of sun¬ 
baths, if judiciously taken, is demonstrated by the above example 
in the best possible manner. A dwelling place which admits the 
sunlight during all hours of the day, is, therefore, one of the first 
conditions for the preservation of health. On the other hand, 
statistics show that the tenement house districts of the large cities 
to which sunlight has very slight access, have the greatest infant 
mortality and are perilous breeding places of rickets and tuber¬ 
culosis. If it were not for the constant renewal of the population 
from the rural districts, the city dwellers, especially the poorer 
classes, would die out in the course of a few generations. All 
mothers should realize the importance of the beneficial action of 
the sunlight and use every opportunity to admit the direct rays 
of the sun to their living and sleeping rooms whenever and wher¬ 
ever this is possible. Sunlight and fresh air are primal factors 
on which the normal development, health and power of resistance 
of the child depend. 

A frequent exposure of the naked body to the sunlight will 
greatly assist the system in the performance of all physiological 


SUNLIGHT AND AIR 


27 


functions. It will especially insure an even distribution of the 
blood. Such an adjustment of the circulation is necessary for 
the normal functioning of all organs. People should make it a 
practice to expose their nude bodies frequently to sunlight and 
fresh air in order to keep in the best possible physical condition. 
Public parks should have enclosures wherein light and air baths 
can be taken, and these should become an adjunct of every modern 
progressive city. Sunlight is the best germicide, but it also kills 
the cells of our bodies, if they are exposed too much to the very 
intense rays of the sun. Moderation and discrimination should 
always be exercised. Sunbaths are best taken in the morning, and 

vs- ■■■ 

a room with an eastern exposure should be selected for the purpose. 

Equal attention should be paid to a continuous supply of fresh 
air during day and night. Not many persons seem to realize the 
absolute necessity of the electrifying, life-giving oxygen for the 
maintenance of vitality and the prevention of disease. It has been 
only a century and a half ago (1774) since the English scientist, 
Priestly, and the French scientist, Lavoisier, discovered that we 
live by means of a chemical process of combustion, in which the 
blood unites with the inhaled air, yielding the products of com¬ 
bustion which we exhale as aqueous vapor and carbonic acid gas. 
This chemical action corresponds to that which we find in the 
case of a burning candle or a lamp fed with oil. If the supply of 
air is cut off we will be suffocated, just as the flame of a lamp is 
extinguished if the air is prevented from passing to it. A man 
may live more than sixty days without food, and a few days with¬ 
out water, but when deprived of air or oxygen, he dies in a few 
minutes. This proves that pure air is the most necessary of all 
the essentials of life. 

Atmospheric air consists of two gases, viz.: nitrogen and oxy¬ 
gen; the former serves only to dilute the oxygen. Besides these 
two elements the air always contains some aqueous vapor, carbon 
dioxide and ammonia. On an average, 100 volumes of air contain: 


78.35 

vol. of Nitrogen 

(N) 

20.77 

vol. of Oxygen 

(O) 

0.84 

vol. of Water vapor 

(H 2 0) 

0.04 

vol. of Carbon dioxide 

(C0 2 ) 

0.0001 

vol. of Ammonia 

(NH 3 ) 


Traces of other gases (ozone, etc.) 


' 28 


RATIONAL DIET 


There are also various kinds of microbes in the air, according 
to moisture and temperature, causing fermentation and chemical 
disintegration of organic substances. The composition of air, i. e., 
its proportions of nitrogen and oxygen, is the same all over the 
surface of the earth. The degree of moisture or humidity in the 
air varies according to location and temperature. Carbon dioxide 
is always present, even in mid ocean and forests, but its quantity 
is very small, ranging from three to four parts per ten thousand 
by volume. In closed rooms, however, where numbers of persons 
are present and at the same time gas and coal are burned, the 
percentage of carbon dioxide rapidly increases. At the same time 
the air is filled with other and more poisonous gases, such as am¬ 
monia and albuminoid ammonia, while the amount of oxygen is 
gradually lowered. All these facts should be seriously considered 
in the proper ventilation of living-rooms, schoolrooms, etc. The 
following table gives the average amount of carbon dioxide in 10,000 
parts found in the air of different localities: 


Ocean and forests 

0.3 



Cities, open streets 

0.4 

to 

0.5 

Bedroom during night, window partly open 

0.8 



Bedroom during night, window closed 

1.2 



Schoolrooms 

1.5 

to 

3. 

Hospitals 

2.8 



Schoolroom, 70 occupants at close of school lirs 

i. 7.2 



Churches, during services 

3.5 

to 

7. 

Churches, if heated by furnaces 

20. 

to 

30. 

Theatres, crowded meeting rooms 

25. 



Workshops, ill ventilated 

30. 




These figures show how little attention is paid to proper venti¬ 
lation and explain the constant increase of pneumonia and similar 
diseases. The importance of pure air becomes still more obvious 
if we consider the wonderful anatomical structure of the respira¬ 
tory organs. The lungs into which the air is drawn, consist of 
two rounded, oblong, somewhat flattened masses of cellular sub¬ 
stance, situated in the cavity of the chest, which communicates 
with the atmosphere through the windpipe (trachea). The latter, 
as it descends from the throat, branches off into large tubes, and 
these branch again and again into smaller and still smaller ones, 
and finally into hairlike vessels. Through these the air penetrates 
into the remotest parts of the cellular substance. Around each 


SUNLIGHT AND AIR 


29 


visible extremity nearly 18,000 cells are clustered, each of which 
is connected through these minute tubes with the external air. 
The cells vary in size. They have an average diameter of about 
one one-hundredth inch. Their total number has been estimated 
at about six hundred millions. The wall of these cells is very thin ; 
they are mere air vesicles. 

The internal surfaces of all these cells together form an area 
of about one hundred and sixty square yards of thin cell-wall. 
Over the whole of this surface minute blood-vessels branch out, 
almost entirely covering it. Along these tiny vessels the blood 
continually flows and in its course absorbs through their walls the 
oxygen of the inhaled air. It is in the delicate membrane of these 
blood-vessels that the change from venous into arterial blood is 
effected. The venous blood must be changed continually because 
it is an impure fluid containing matter that has already served 
for the support of life in the various parts of the body. Carbon 
dioxide and other gases are given off, and the oxygen of the air 
enters the cells of the lungs and is absorbed by the minute vessels 
which spread over the cell walls. Within these vessels the oxygen 
combines directly with the hemoglobin of the blood, and by means 
of the action of the heart, proceeds with it in ceaseless currents 
through the arteries and veins. 

To a certain extent the skin also absorbs oxygen and exhales 
carbon dioxide, the amount being about one-thirtieth of that ex¬ 
creted by the lungs. Besides, the skin gives off other gases, water 
and solid matter, amounting to from one to two pounds during 
the day. In summer people perspire more than in winter. During 
exercise or exertion more water is lost than when at rest. All 
parts of the skin should be brought frequently in immediate con¬ 
tact with the external air. There are several million pores in the 
skin acting as little sewers, through which various waste products 
of the system are constantly excreted. The clothing and particu¬ 
larly the underwear should be porous, to permit free circulation 
of the air. Closely woven linen or cotton shirts, if covered with 
heavy woolen clothes, cause the retention of waste matter which 
is partly reabsorbed by the system and thrown back on the lungs 
and kidneys, overworking and weakening these organs. 

As has been shown, in ill-ventilated and often tobacco-laden 
public halls, churches, schoolrooms, theatres and workshops, the 



30 


RATIONAL DIET 


air thrown off from the lungs is rendered still more noxious by 
the emanations of the skin. People on leaving such places feel the 
contrast between the inside and outside air and erroneously make 
the fresh air responsible for their “colds,” which are but the result 
of the inhaled poisonous gases and their unsanitary methods of 
living in general. 

Many persons sleep with closed windows, because they cherish 
the old delusion that “night-air is dangerous.” After a few hours 
they begin to breathe the exhaled air over again. In the morning 
they get up with a “tired feeling” and have to resort to “eye-_. 
openers” which make their condition still worse. It is during the 
night when we are at rest that the lungs redouble their efforts 
to inhale the life-giving oxygen to recharge the human dynamo. 
It is therefore even more essential to provide for an adequate sup¬ 
ply of pure air during the night than in the day time. There is 
absolutely no danger of “catching cold” from cold, fresh air. On 
the contrary, the bodily heat, wdiich results from combustion, is 
increased by an abundant supply of oxygen. A “cold” is really 
but an effort of the system to cast out impurities, chiefly through 
the mucous membranes of the throat and nose. Few persons real¬ 
ize that the amount of air taken up by the system daily outweighs 
that of the solid food. 

The changes which have taken place in the composition of the 
exhaled air are indicated by the following table: 


Constituent 

Nitrogen 

Oxygen 

Carbon dioxide 


Inhaled Ale Exhaled Air 
Volumes per cent 

78.35 78.85 

20.77 16. 

0.04 4.35 


Exhaled air is also saturated with water vapor and contains 
traces of ammonia and organic matter varying with the diet, cli¬ 
mate and occupation of the individual. Under normal conditions, if 
the blood is rich in the essential organic salts, the lungs absorb 
through the medium of the red blood corpuscles twenty-four and 
one-lialf ounces of oxygen during twenty-four hours, while they 
give off twenty-eight ounces of carbon dioxide in the same time. 
If the blood is deficient in sodium, a considerable amount of car- 
\dioxide is retained in the lungs. Children need relatively 


SUNLIGHT AND AIR 


31 


more oxygen than adults, as the tissue changes are more active 
during the growth of the organism. 

The adult man of average weight, at each inhalation draws in 
about one pint of air, and during twenty-four hours he averages 
fifteen respirations a minute. Thus he takes in two gallons of air 
a minute or 120 gallons an hour, amounting to about 2,880 gallons 
or 384 cubic feet a day. This volume of air would fill a room 
measuring a little over seven feet in each direction. The weight 
of this volume is about thirty pounds and contains about seven 
pounds of oxygen, as the latter forms 23.2 per cent of weight of the 
atmosphere. Of the total amount of inhaled air the human body 
takes up oxygen at the rate of 4.78 per cent by volume or 5.25 
per cent by weight, while exhaled air contains 4.34 per cent of 
carbon dioxide by volume or 6.5 per cent by weight. 

Of the total amount of oxygen inhaled, the body generally ab¬ 
sorbs from eight to ten ounces (one-third) during the activities 
of day time, while during sleep in the open air, or in well ventilated 
rooms, the quantity may be doubled to sixteen ounces. It may be 
noted here, incidentally, that the absorption of oxygen depends 
largely on the number of red blood corpuscles in a given quantity 
of blood, a subject which will be treated more fully in another 
chapter. During severe muscular exertion respiration is also in¬ 
creased in frequency and in depth, and the volume of air exchanged 
may be from five to seven times greater than during a period of 
rest. 

Experiments have been made by German scientists showing the 
effect on oxygen consumption of walking on a level and climbing. 
The following figures give the quantities of oxygen consumed dur¬ 
ing one minute, the subject being a man of 125 pounds weight: 


Form of Exercise 

Standing at rest 
Walking on a level 
Climbing 


Oxygen Consumption 

16 cubic inches 
48 “ 

n o (c 11 


It appears that walking increases the consumption of oxygen 
threefold, climbing nearly fivefold over that consumed at rest. 
These facts illustrate the influence of muscular activity upon the 
bodily metabolism and the incidental purification of the system 
from waste matter. Regular exercise in the open air, during all 


32 


RATIONAL DIET 


seasons of the year, is one of the most important factors for the 
preservation of health and the prolongation of life. 

There is also a remarkable difference in the various species of 
animals in regard to their need of oxygen. It appears that this 
need is regulated by the amount of heat generated. The birds, on 
account of their enormous muscular activity during flight, use 
up more than the mammals, and the latter require at least from 
ten to twenty times as much oxygen, in proportion to their weight, 
as the cold blooded animals. A small animal gives off more heat 
from a relatively larger surface and consequently requires more 
oxygen than animals of a larger size, while young animals require 
more than full-grown animals of the same species. The following 
table serves to illustrate these differences: 

Amount of oxygen consumed in 24 hours, in proportion 
to one ounce of bodily weight in cubic inches at 32°F. 


Sparrow 

690 

cubic inches 

Duck 

100-135 

( c a 

Dog 

65-100 

( ( ( c 

Man 

30- 48 

u {{ 

Frog 

4- 8 

t ( <« 

Earthworm 

7- 

{< a 

Eel 

4- 5 

a ( i 

Lizard, hibernating 

1- 6 

< < < < 


The temperature of the air must also be considered in relation 
to its effect upon our health. Cold air causes a natural exhilaration 
far superior to the stimulation of any artificial tonic. It is denser 
and richer in oxygen than hot air. Let us compare zero air and 
air at 100° F. Since about one-fifth of the air is oxygen, 1,000 
cubic feet of air contain 200 cubic feet of oxygen at 100° F. Air 
increases and decreases in volume as it rises or falls in temperature. 
For every degree it rises, it increases about 1/500. In 100 degrees 
it will increase or decrease in volume 100/500 or 1/5. Thus by 
lowering the temperature of the air from 100° F. to zero, the 
amount of oxygen it contains will be one-fifth greater. But there 
is also a decrease in volume, and the 1,000 cubic feet of air will 
now be 800 cubic feet, containing the 200 cubic feet of oxygen. 
If we increase this volume of cold air again to 1,000 feet we will 
have over four pounds oxygen more than in the same volume of air 
at 100° F. In other words, when we reduce this 1,000 cubic feet 
to zero, we shall have fifty cubic feet of oxygen, or twenty-five per 


SUNLIGHT AND AIR 


33 


cent more oxygen than at 100° F. Consequently when we take 
in a breath of twenty-eight cubic inches, as we do on an average, 
we get one-fourth more oxygen at zero than at 100° F., and if we 
breathe air at 50°, we get one-eighth more oxygen than at 
100° F. The degree of activity of our life depends upon the 
amount of oxygen in our bodies. In hot weather, especially on 
sultry nights, it is difficult to store up enough oxygen during 
sleep to replace the amount we lose during the day. But in the 
cold, dense air of the winter we get a larger supply of oxygen, 
which makes us more active physically as well as mentally. It is 
the out-door life in the cool, fresh air of the temperate zones 
which gives us a strong constitution and increases our resistance 
against disease. This is the reason why the inhabitants of the 
temperate zones have more energy and are more advanced than 
those of the tropics. Today the Caucasians are the foremost among 
the races of the world, not because they are more or less meat- 
eaters, as is so often asserted, but because during thousands of 
years our ancestors possessed the advantage of a cool and invig¬ 
orating climate, which helped to develop their mental and physical 
powers to a higher degree. A sound and vigorous body can be 
produced only by pure blood and healthy nerves. One of the best 
blood purifiers and one of the most effective nerve-tonics is that 
which nature has amply provided for all—oxygen, the elixir of life. 
Procure your full measure of it every day of the year by doing 
useful work in the open air. It will bring you new strength and 
vitality and a happy and cheerful attitude of mind. 


CHAPTER IV 


Water 

Water is one of the most characteristic substances of our planet. 
It may simultaneously appear in solid, liquid and gaseous form; 
it has been adapted as a unit of measure for the specific gravity 
of all other substances; it plays an important role in the circula¬ 
tion of the elements in the earth’s surface. From oceans and 
lakes, fields and forests, a continuous stream of water is rising as 
vapor into the atmosphere, to be recondensed in cooler regions 
and precipitated as rain or snow. Three-fourths of these precipi¬ 
tations, of course, return directly to the oceans, the rest falling 
on land, collecting in rivers and lakes or else penetrating the earth, 
perhaps to be brought to the surface again as springs and wells. 
When water falls as rain to the earth, it absorbs carbon dioxide, 
ammonia and other soluble gases, if present, and washes the 
atmosphere free from dust-particles and impurities. This meteoric 
water (rain or snow), although nearly free from dissolved mineral 
substances, is therefore by no means pure, except in very high 
altitudes and above the line of perpetual snow and ice. 

From twenty-five to forty per cent of the annual rainfall in 
the temperate zones, soaks at once into the ground and passes 
downward through the soil to hardpan, to clayey or impervious 
layers, or to rock surface, thence through crevices, broken joints, 
or glacial drift deposits to the water-table. From here it may flow 
along the slopes for many miles, until it finds its way again to 
the surface, either from the bottom of a lake, the bed of a river, 
the side of a hill or mountain, or supplying wells. Reappearing as 
spring water it is free from all organic matter, but often rich in 
gases and minerals. The hardness of most spring-water is chiefly 
due to its content of calcium bicarbonate which is formed by the 
action of carbonic acid in rain water upon calcareous materials. 

Good water should be clear, colorless, quite free from sus¬ 
pended matter, and yet it should contain small quantities of carbon 
dioxide and pure air so as to give it a pleasant taste. In its 
chemical composition it ought to be as free as possible from organic 


34 


WATER; ITS RELATION TO LIFE 


35 


matter and not contain more than one-thousandth part of mineral 
matter or fifty grains per gallon. Unless the source of water is 
above suspicion, the water should be boiled, filtered or distilled. 
An addition of a small quantity of lime juice or lemon juice has 
also a purifying influence, on account of its large percentage 
of fruit acid. 

Absolutely pure water can be obtained only by repeated dis¬ 
tillations of fairly pure water in vessels constructed of silver. 
Distilled water, even when stored in porcelain or glass, quickly 
takes up small quantities of silicates, of which the containers are 
made. The purest water we can obtain in nature is the rain falling 
on high mountains, or in the country after several hours of heavy 
precipitation. 

Even rain water contains some minute solid particles, which 
are necessary for the condensation of the water vapor in the 
atmosphere, but the earthy matter of rain water is infinitesimal 
compared to that of hard water. Bacteria are also present in rain 
water, which should be filtered if to be used for drinking purposes. 
Rain water is best stored in cement lined wells, as metal poisoning 
may occur from water stored in galvanized iron tanks. Decay¬ 
ing organic matter increases the solvent power of water for metals, 
corroding, therefore, the containers and conveyance pipes. We 
hear of occasional cases of lead and zinc poisoning, resulting from 
water stored too long in galvanized tanks, which should never be 
used for this purpose. 

All spring waters are more or less hard, the degree of hardness 
being generally determined by their capacity for dissolving soap. 
In soft water, such as rain water or distilled water, soap lathers 
immediately, while in hard water a considerable amount of soap 
is wasted before any lather is formed. This condition is caused 
by the calcium salts, carbonates and sulphate of lime, which unite 
with the fatty acids of the soap to produce new combinations. 
Only after these salts are chemically combined with the fatty 
acids can a satisfactory lather be made. 

Calcium carbonate in spring-water is formed by the presence 
of free carbonic acid gas (collected during its passage through 
the air as rain) which combines with the lime, taken up from the 
soil. Boiling the water breaks up the calcium carbonate into its 
component parts. The carbonic acid gas escapes into the air 



36 


RATIONAL DIET 


and the lime is precipitated, but unless calcium carbonate was the 
only mineral present, the water may still be hard, although less 
so than before. Chloride of calcium and sulphate of calcium can¬ 
not be removed by boiling, and for separating these substances, 
there is no better remedy than distillation. If a still is used to 
purify the drinking water, such water, from which a part of the 
impurities have been removed by boiling or filtering, will not clog 
or coat the apparatus with lime as readily as very hard waters. 

The belief that hard waters are beneficial because they furnish 
the necessary lime to the human system, and that soft water causes 
soft bones and premature decay of the teeth, or dissolves some of 
the necessary elements of the mucous membranes of the stomach 
and intestines, has no foundation at all. Distilled water will not 
deprive living tissues of organic salts, as is often assumed. 

Lime, to be of any benefit to the system, must be supplied in 
the organic form such as found in fruits and vegetables. The com¬ 
mon practice of giving lime water to babies cannot be justified in 
the light of modern physiological chemistry. In fact, very hard 
waters often cause dyspepsia and constipation, which are relieved 
by the use of soft or distilled water. 

Vegetables cooked in hard water are rendered hard and indi¬ 
gestible. This is especially the case with legumes, as the sulphate 
of calcium in water, when boiled, forms hard indigestible com¬ 
pounds with the legumin, causing flatulency. There is no doubt 
that the use of distilled water tends to prolong life as it prevents 
to a large extent the ossification of the arteries and lessens the work 
of the kidneys. 

Dr. Luther L. Von Wedekind of the Navy Yard of Brooklyn, 
N. Y., who has had wide experience in regard to distilled water, 
which is used exclusively in the U. S. Navy, writes as follows: 

“Any thinking person, medical or lay, who has even a medi¬ 
ocre knowledge of the process of elimination, not only of toxins, 
but the general run of excrementitious matter from the human 
body, will at once recognize the therapeutic value of pure water; 
for if he thinks only a little, he will realize that this surplus of 
fluid in no way overtaxes the kidneys, but relieves it of its burden 
by sending to this filter a diluted instead of a concentrated solu¬ 
tion, and that the process of elimination by the pores is vastlv 
improved. ’ ’ 

It is unquestionable that well aerated distilled water, i.e., is 


37 


WATER; ITS RELATION TO LIFE 

purified water, is preferable to the usual hard spring waters. Those 
who live far away from the centers of population, where distilled 
water can be had at reasonable prices, and are doubtful about their 
water supply, should procure a small water still for their daily sup¬ 
ply of drinking water. 

Water is necessary to all forms of vegetable and animal life, 
even the lowest types. The change of matter which produces 
human energy is dependent upon the presence of water in the 
tissues. No vital action is possible without it. It makes up nearly 
two-thirds of the human body, and the following table gives the 
percentage of water in its various parts: 


Teeth 

10. 

per 

cent 

Bones 

13. 

< < 

(( 

Cartilage 

55. 

< i 

i i 

Red blood corpuscles 

68.7 

< i 

< t 

Liver 

71.5 

i ( 

i i 

Muscular tissues 

75. 

( < 

< c 

Spleen 

75.5 

i l 

< i 

Lungs 

80. 

i l 

i ( 

Brain 

80.5 

11 

l ( 

Bile 

86. 

( l 

( < 

Blood plasma 

90. 

i l 

(( 

Blood serum 

90.7 

(( 

< < 

Lymph 

94. 

( i 

< l 

Saliva 

95.5 

l c 

C l 

Gastric juice 

99.5 

i e 

l ( 


The presence of water is essential in the processes of digestion 
and absorption as a solvent for foods. It is likewise necessary for 
dissolving the various substances which have to be removed from 
the body through the excretory organs. More than one-half of 
the amount of water taken into the system is again discharged 
through the kidneys, about one-quarter through the skin, seven¬ 
teen per cent through the lungs and four per cent through the 
intestines. Thus we are constantly losing water in various ways. 
The air we exhale is saturated with moisture and the skin is daily 
giving off from one to two pints of water in the form of invisible 
perspiration, or in the form of sweat during strenuous exercise. 
Under normal conditions, the kidneys discharge from two to three 
pints daily, but there are habitual drinkers of light alcoholic 
beverages, such as beer, who often consume from eight to ten 


38 


RATIONAL DIET 


pints of liquid during a single day, thus overtaxing and weaken¬ 
ing the kidneys and at the same time impoverishing the blood. 

The amount of water actually needed by the body depends on 
various circumstances, principally on climate and occupation. The 
greater the functional activity of the organism, the greater the 
need for fluid. This need is indicated by thirst which is best 
satisfied by pure water, but the larger part of the water necessary 
for the physiological functions of the system, may be derived from 
our food, if judiciously selected. Thus fruits contain a very large 
percentage of water, from 80 to 90 per cent, so that people par¬ 
taking freely of fresh fruits and vegetables, need little or no water 
in addition to that supplied by their food. Furthermore, in na¬ 
ture’s products, we procure water in the purest form, distilled in 
her own laboratory, and this is undoubtedly the best and most 
hygienic way in which water can be taken. Besides, in fruits and 
vegetables, the water is in an organic combination with other 
elements and in this state has the most beneficial action upon our 
system. A person living largely on these foods has very little 
desire for any liquid. It is only the excessive consumption of meat 
and other highly seasoned foods which create an abnormal thirst. 
Certain animals, such as hares and rabbits, which feed on grasses 
and herbs containing about 85% of water, never drink as long as 
they can find their natural food. Mother’s milk contains about 
87% of water, and juicy fruits and succulent vegetables nearly 
come up to the same standard. A person consuming about four 
pounds of fresh fruit daily, has in addition to about eight ounces 
of solid food, at least three pints of water of unsurpassed quality. 

As already stated, in case of a high protein diet more water 
is necessary than with a diet consisting largely of foods in which 
fats and carbohydrates predominate, because the waste products of 
the former need a large amount of water for their solution and ex¬ 
cretion. We should not, however, entertain the idea that by copious 
water drinking we are able to flush the system like a sewer. This 
is a mistaken view resulting from a lack of understanding of 
the physiological functions of the organism. Purification of the 
human organism is an electro-chemical process of the living cells. 
The waste products like uric acid, sulphuric acid, carbonic acid, 
etc., must be first combined with some of the alkaline elements, 


WATER; ITS RELATION TO LIFE 


39 


principally sodium, before they can be taken up by the blood stream 
and excreted. If the diet is lacking in the necessary organic salts, 
large quantities of water will only complicate matters by thinning 
the blood and still further reducing its percentage of mineral ele¬ 
ments. Similarly, the digestive juices and other fluids of the 
body will lose their strength. Digestion and elimination will be 
impaired, while the heart and kidneys will be overworked. On 
the other hand, a well-planned improvement of the diet will enrich 
the blood in the needful organic salts and aid the system in the 
performance of its physiological functions, especially in the more 
complete digestion of foods and in the excretion of waste matter. 

The excessive use of table salt (inorganic chloride of sodium) 
which is often used as an aid to digestion, cannot be condemned 
too severely. It creates an unnatural thirst, as it deprives the tis¬ 
sues of a large amount of water on account of its diuretic proper¬ 
ties. Moreover, a person who partakes of a beverage, not because 
he is thirsty, but because that beverage is palatable, is exceeding 
the actual needs of the system and overtaxing his excretory organs. 
Indeed, a very large number of people think they cannot quench 
their thirst with plain water, but must have an ingredient which 
also pleases the palate. These artificially acquired cravings, largely 
due to wrong eating, are responsible for a good deal of over-drink¬ 
ing with its fatal consequences. The thirsty person who cannot 
satisfy his thirst unless the beverage contains what is really a drug, 
has actually acquired a most pernicious habit. Among such un¬ 
hygienic drinks can be classified the various intoxicating bever¬ 
ages, even if containing but a small percentage of alcohol, and 
coffee, tea, soda water and the numerous carbonated drinks which 
are dispensed at soda fountains and refreshment counters. All 
these drinks, when consumed regularly, convey something into 
the organism over and above the water itself, something that is 
not only distinctly injurious to the system, but that also offsets 
the beneficial action of the water. Furthermore, alcoholic bever¬ 
ages stimulate the kidneys to excessive excretions of urine which 
constantly carry off necessary mineral elements from blood and 
lymph. 

All fluids have to pass through the blood-vessels of the stomach 
and the lacteals of the small intestine to the thoracic duct which 


40 


RATIONAL DIET 


passes upward along the front of the spine and opens at the root 
of the neck into the large blood-vessel leading to the heart. From 
here the blood stream passes to every part and organ of the body, 
nourishing and cleansing the cells and forming digestive juices 
and glandular secretions. The organic salts in performing their 
functions use up vital electricity and magnetism, and must be 
renewed by means of natural food. Mineral waters, coffee, tea 
and alcoholic beverages do not supply these salts, but still further 
vitiate the already impoverished blood and lymph. In all such 
conditions an exclusive fruit diet will be more beneficial than the 
taking of one or two gallons of liquid daily, for which there is no 
physiological need. 

There also exists a wide-spread and entirely unfounded notion 
that the salts contained in mineral waters supply the elements for 
the proper physiological functions of our organism. Careful in¬ 
vestigations have shown repeatedly that inorganic substances, like 
lime, soda, potash, iron, silica, etc., contained in these waters, 
while they may enter into the circulation and produce some tem¬ 
porary chemical action, are not able to perform the vital processes 
in place of the highly organized salts of natural foods. The won¬ 
derful cures reported from renowned watering places, must be 
attributed to the increased exercise in fresh air and a more or less 
restricted diet, rather than to the copious drinking from certain 
springs. Most of the mineral waters which are used as aperients 
give only temporary relief and, if regularly taken, produce a 
catarrhal condition of the alimentary canal. Pure water, with the 
addition of some unfermented fruit juices, is far more beneficial 
in such cases, as the mild organic acids of the fruits promote the 
normal action of the digestive organs and help to overcome 
constipation. 

As already pointed out, the best way to regulate the water sup¬ 
ply of the system, is to adopt a simple and frugal diet, free from 
inorganic salt, spices and condiments, but with a liberal supply of 
salad plants and fresh fruits. Thus the desire for liquids will be 
greatly reduced and, whenever thirst occurs, it will be natural and 
best satisfied with pure and soft water in moderate quantity. 

If liquids for which there is no physiological need, are habit¬ 
ually taken into the system it is certainly not in accordance with 
the laws of hygiene. No strict rules in regard to the quantity of 


WATER; ITS RELATION TO LIFE 


41 


water can be made, except that drinking during meals should be 
avoided, or at least reduced to a minimum. If there is an indi¬ 
cation of thirst, the meal should consist largely of fresh fruit. 
Ice water should never be taken, and the temperature of drink¬ 
ing water should never be much below 50° Fahrenheit. When 
the use of hot water is required internally, the temperature should 
be between 110° and 120° Fahrenheit, or slightly above blood heat. 


CHAPTER V 


The Constituents of Food 

The problem of proper nutrition is a very important one in the 
life of the single cell as well as in the complicated organism of 
higher plants and animals. The scientific study of this subject is 
comparatively new. The first effective impulse to systematic in¬ 
vestigation of the chemistry of foods was given by the German 
scientist Baron von Liebig about seventy years ago. It is only 
within recent years that we have acquired definite knowledge of 
the chemical composition of foods. No one knew formerly, except 
in a very crude way, of what our bodies and our foods were com¬ 
posed and how the different chemical elements served their pur¬ 
poses in nutrition. Even today the majority of otherwise intelli¬ 
gent people know but little about what their food contains; how 
it nourishes them; whether they are economical or wasteful in 
buying and preparing it for use, and whether or not the food is 
suitable for the actual needs of the body. 

The physical manifestations of animal life depend primarily 
upon the electric and magnetic power stored up by the sunlight in 
the complex organic compounds of the vegetable kingdom. All food 
for men and animals is directly or indirectly the product of vege¬ 
table life. The process of digestion splits these compounds into 
simple organic forms, thereby setting free the latent electric and 
magnetic energy stored in the food and transferring it to our sys¬ 
tem. The building of the tissues proceeds according to the general 
law of life and growth, which is founded on the impulse to form 
new cells and to renovate or change old ones. In other words, 
nutrition is essentially the attraction and assimilation of a certain 
amount of new matter by the cells of the body, with the simulta¬ 
neous removal of substances which have expended their vital energy. 

To insure perfect and healthy nutrition food should contain 
all the eighteen elements which are essential to make up the body. 
Furthermore, these elements must be furnished in organic com¬ 
binations and in certain well-defined proportions, as they exist 
in natural food products. Life cannot be maintained by proxi- 


42 


THE CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD 


43 


mate food principles extracted artifically from natural foods, as, 
for instance, pure gluten separated from the wheat kernel, refined 
sugar extracted from the sugar beet, and the many manufactured 
products which flood the market. Crude minerals, such as lime, 
magnesia, table salt, etc., are likewise unable to build the living tis¬ 
sues of the human body although they may produce some purely 
chemical reactions. Still less can the elements as proximate prin¬ 
ciples serve in the processes of nutrition. Organized by nature in 
the highly complex compounds of fruits and vegetables, phosphorus, 
sulphur and chlorine are assimilated and beneficial; but in their 
elementary state they are injurious and even deadly poisonous to 
the system. 

The oxygen we breathe is the only element which is taken up in 
the uncombined state by the body. As such, however, it does not 
become an integral part of our tissues, but only enters in a loose 
combination with the hemoglobin of the red blood corpuscles, in 
which form it is the most productive source of energy. 

Although the chemist is able to build up artificially a series of 
more or less complex organic compounds, his experiments do not 
represent the synthetic processes in the living cell. All of the so- 
called organic substances coming from the laboratory are produced 
by the application of forces and agents which can never play a 
part in the vital processes, such as extreme pressure, high tempera¬ 
ture, strong galvanic currents, etc., agencies which would be 
immediately fatal to a living cell. To take an extreme case, how 
can a chemist imitate a wheat-kernel? No amount of analysis and 
subsequent synthesis will enable him to do so. For, though he 
should succeed in forming the simpler organic combinations in their 
due proportions, and even imitate the more complex compounds, 
still there would be lacking the life-principle with its power of 
reproduction, which would utterly defy his efforts. There are in 
nature’s organic products subtle qualities which are not susceptible 
to chemical analysis, and these are too volatile to survive the 
laboratory process of condensation and extraction. The ingre¬ 
dients revealed by the material analyses of foods, are believed 
to be essential constituents. Here, too, it is probable that these 
ingredients are not the most valuable, but only the coarser part. 
Manifold as they seem, the material manifestations of animal life 
have but one origin, viz., the oxidation of complex organic sub- 


44 


RATIONAL DIET 


stances, and but one object, viz., vital electricity, with heat and 
muscular energy as by-products. 

The continual setting free of energy, peculiar to the living 
body, entailing as it does the ceaseless breaking up of various sub¬ 
stances, constitutes a drain upon the system which must be met 
by constantly renewed supplies; otherwise the body would waste 
away and its energy diminish. Hence, the necessity on the one 
hand for food, or those substances which are a source of energy, 
and which replace the lost constituents of the body; and on the 
other hand, for pure air which supplies oxygen and may be 
classed among the foodstuffs. The air combines with the organic 
substances, reducing them at the same time to simpler molecules 
in the processes of oxidation or combustion, by which potential 
energy is turned into kinetic energy. Food, of itself, can exhibit 
energy as heat only with intervening phases of chemical action. 
Before its energy can be turned into the various forms of ner¬ 
vous and muscular action, it needs to be transmuted into blood 
and lymph, and in that transmutation there is a preliminary ex¬ 
penditure of a part of the food’s store of energy. Part of the 
potential energy, in other words, of the food is used up in digestion 
and assimilation. The nutritive value of food is, to a certain ex¬ 
tent, determined by its digestibility. The energy furnished by a 
given amount of food is measured by calories; one calory represent¬ 
ing the amount of heat which would raise the temperature of one 
pint of water four degrees Fahrenheit. The number of calories of 
a certain food product, however, cannot determine its dietetic and 
hygienic value. As already mentioned, the potential energy of 
foodstuffs, as utilized by the heart, and the nervous system, is not 
only due to the production of heat, but also to the electric, magnetic 
and other imponderable forces stored up in the highly organized 
molecules of food. In point of fact, the principal role of food 
is not simply to be digested and oxidized, as present-day physi¬ 
ology assumes, but to supply vital electricity and magnetism, and 
these are best obtained from the various products of the soil, which 
should not undergo much, if any, artificial preparation. A pound 
of white flour has 1,635 calories; a pound of refined sugar has 1,750 
calories, and a pint of whiskey about the same. Yet none of these 
substances if used exclusively can maintain life for any length of 
time. Indeed, they would destroy life sooner than total abstinence 


THE CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD 


45 


from all food, as they rapidly break down the cells, by depriving 
them of their alkaline elements. 

While there are more than a thousand different food-products, 
their constituents or proximate principles are always about the 
same, although they are found in varying proportions. We shall 
here briefly enumerate these constituents and deal with them 
more explicitly in the following pages. 

Water, composed of hydrogen and oxygen, is contained in vary¬ 
ing percentages in all natural foods. It is indispensable as a sol¬ 
vent in all the physiological functions of the body and of every 

form of life. 

Nitrogenous compounds, chiefly found in the form of protein, 
are composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur. 
They rebuild the wear and tear of the tissues and furnish, also, 
some potential energy when there is more supplied than needed 
for functional purposes. The protoplasm of both the plant and 
animal cell is composed mainly of protein. Protein, again, exists 
in different forms, such as the albumen of eggs, the casein of milk, 
the gluten of cereals, the legumin of pulses, etc. Similar to protein 
in chemical composition are the gelatins which, however, do not 
assist in repairing the waste of the tissues, but serve as a source 
of heat and energy. About fifty different proteins have been suffi¬ 
ciently isolated and studied. Their nitrogen content ranges from 
15.50 per cent in egg albumen to about 18 per cent in gluten, 
found in wheat and other cereals. The amino acids are nitrogenous 
compounds of simpler structure than the proteins. Seventeen 
different kinds have been determined so far. In the construction 
of the protein molecules of plants, nitrogen is absorbed from the 
soil in soluble forms, as compounds of nitrates and ammonium salts, 
which are converted first into amino acids and then into protein. 
The reverse takes place in the animal body, where the protein 
molecule is again broken up into simpler compounds suUi as amino 
acids, and is finally transmuted into ammonia, urea, uric acid, 
etc., which, in the open air, undergo oxidation and re-conversion 
into nitrates and ammonium salts, ready to be taken up again by 
the plant. 

The non-nitrogenous compounds exist in the form of car¬ 
bohydrates and fats, and are always composed of the same three 
elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. 


46 


RATIONAL DIET 


The carbohydrates are chiefly products of the vegetable king¬ 
dom, such as sugars, starches, cellulose, gums, pectins and dextrins. 
In the milk of mammals, however, we find a considerable amount 
of carbohydrates in the form of milk sugar. Carbohydrates are not 
directly required, like protein, to build up or repair the cells of 
the body, but they are readily oxidized by the inhaled air into 
carbon dioxide and water, furnishing heat and energy to the system 
with the greatest vital economy. 

Fats are found mainly in the seeds of plants and to some extent 
in the leaves, skins and fruits; they are also found in most of 
the animal food products. Fats are deficient in oxygen and rich 
in carbon and hydrogen. Consequently their heat-equivalent is 
much greater than that of the carbohydrates. The latter yield 
1,820 calories per pound, the former more than twice as much, or 
4,040 calories. 

The fats and the carbohydrates may replace each other, but 
only within certain limits. They do not appear to play exactly the 
same part, although composed of the same elements. The fact 
that fat is contained in the milk of all mammals, in the eggs, and 
in all seeds of plants, seems to demonstrate that it is an indispen¬ 
sable food constituent. It is further proved by the instinctive de¬ 
sire for the addition of fat to a diet, however abundant in car¬ 
bohydrates it may be, and the desire, on the other hand, for the 
addition of carbohydrates to the richest fat diet. 

To the non-nitrogenous compounds also belong the organic 
acids of the vegetable kingdom, such as tartaric acid, citric acid 
and malic acid, which are likewise oxidized into carbon dioxide and 
water, supplying heat and energy to the system. 

While carbohydrates and fats cannot replace protein, a defi¬ 
ciency of nitrogen is made good, to a limited extent, by the protec¬ 
tive agency of the other foodstuffs which offer themselves for all the 
purposes except the final one of tissue building. The fat of all foods 
is very completely absorbed, far more so than the protein. The 
same is true of all carbohydrates, with the single exception of 
cellulose. 

The vitamins or life elements, whose chemical composition is 
not yet fully known, are present in all natural foods. They are 
intimately connected with the processes of life and growth, but 


THE CONSTITUENTS OF FOOD 47 

they can be active only when all the body-building elements are 
present. 

The organic salts play the most important part in our nutri¬ 
tion. In articles on foods and tables of food-contents, they gener¬ 
ally figure under the collective names of mineral matter, ash, or in¬ 
organic foodstuffs, without any attention being paid to their ele¬ 
mentary composition. Their study has been woefully neglected 
by the majority of physiologists, who have treated them as a 
subject of little importance. We are often confronted with such 
statements as these: ‘ ‘ The part which each of the mineral elements 
takes in animal nutrition is not well understood ,’’ or “With 
the ordinary mixed diet the body demands for mineral matter may 
be met,” but as long as the importance of the organic salts in our 
system is not recognized and understood, just so long will there 
exist such deplorable guesswork, both with regard to diagnosis and 
to the treatment of disease . 

Physician and patient quite often resemble “the blind leading 
the blind” and, indeed, the blinder the members of the medical 
profession are, the more instruments do they need in their prac¬ 
tice. They come armed with the microscope, laryngoscope and a 
chest of re-agents. They discover germs and bacilli, and invent 
serums, vaccines and antitoxins. They do not yet understand that 
the real and ultimate cause of disease is beyond the reach of the 
microscope; that the origin of all so-called diseases lies in the 
diminished vital electricity of the cells, with a corresponding re¬ 
duction of the nerve power and lowering of vital resistance, result¬ 
ing from faulty nutrition, especially from eating emasculated foods, 
deficient in organic salts. The organized mineral elements in the 
natural foods are essentially the preservers of all the tissues, 
giving them stability and power of vital resistance. To the degree 
they are lacking in our food or are not supplied in the proper pro¬ 
portion and organic combinations, we are susceptible to injurious 
influences. 

The mineral constituents of the body are potassium, sodium, 
calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorus, sulphur, silicon, 
chlorine, fluorine, and minute quantities of iodine, arsenic and 
aluminum. They enter the system as fully oxidized compounds, 
and as such furnish little or no potential energy. But they are 
indispensable in the performance of all the physiological functions 


48 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the system, in the processes of digestion and assimilation, secre¬ 
tion and excretion and in the purification of the blood from waste 
matter. They are most essential for the healthy and normal growth 
of the organism and may be truly called “the building stones of 
the body.” 

To enjoy perfect health and immunity from disease, our blood 
must contain all the necessary elements in their wonderful combina¬ 
tions; because it is the blood which carries them to the different 
parts of the body, nourishing and cleansing the tissues, creating 
animal heat, magnetism and electricity. 

In recapitulating the different constituents of food, we may 
divide them into three classes: 

(1) Those which replace the worn-out tissue elements of the 
body and at the same time supply heat and energy, such as proteins 
and fats; 

(2) Those which supply heat and energy only, such as car¬ 
bohydrates, gelatins and the inhaled oxygen of the air; 

(3) Those which repair only the worn-out tissues, such as 
water and organic salts, the latter through their electro-magnetic 
properties being most essential in all the vital functions of the 
organism. The organic salts are of as great importance to the 
animal and human organism as the proteins, fats and carbohy¬ 
drates. 

As previously mentioned, no proximate food-principle alone is 
able to sustain vital force in the animal organism, and the above 
division is merely provisional. Fats may be placed in the first as 
well as in the second class, while gelatins and carbohydrates may 
indirectly assist in the building up of cells, by protecting the tissues 
from decomposition and oxidation. 

In the subsequent pages the different food-constituents will 
be considered more elaborately. 


CHAPTER VI • 

Proteins 

Proteins are never absent from the protoplasm of acting living 
cells, whether animal or vegetable, and they are indissolubly con¬ 
nected with every manifestation of organic activity. Proteins are 
highly complex compounds of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, 
and sulphur, occurring in a solid or viscous condition or, in solution, 
in nearly all the solids and liquids of the organism. 

In vegetables the proteins are constructed out of the simpler, 
chemical compounds which serve as plant food. In animals such 
a synthesis never occurs, but the proteins are derived directly or 
indirectly from vegetables. 

The principal vegetable proteins are: 

Albumen in fruits and soft, growing vegetables 
Gluten in wheat and other cereals 
Legumin in peas, beans, lentils, etc. 

Globulin in legumes and nuts 
Nucleo-protein in the germs of seeds 

Some of the animal proteins are: 

Casein in milk and cheese 

Albumen in the white and yolk of eggs 

Myosin in the flesh of animals 

Serum, albumen and fibrin in the blood 

Gelatine in bones, collagen and tendons 

Nitrogenous extractions in creatin, and allied compounds 

In the process of digestion the protein molecule is broken up 
into simpler compounds, among which the most essential are the 
amino acids. Experiments have shown that they pre-exist in the 
protein molecule and are not formed during the digestive process. 
Amino acids are crystallizable and do not show the colloidal char¬ 
acter of the protein molecule and are therefore, easily dissolved. 
While all proteins yield amino acids, the proteins differ from one 
another chemically in the amount of different amino acids they 
contain. In the processes of life and growth the animal body 
builds its own protein, tissues, and organic matter, which in each 


49 


50 


RATIONAL DIET 


organism have an architecture as distinct and characteristic as the 
form of the organism itself. 

Experiments show, that by the decomposition of protein into 
amino acids very little energy is expended; hence, only a very 
small amount of energy is required to reconstruct or renew the 
tissues of the body. 

Attention should be paid to the fact that the nutritive value of 
protein, or of a mixture of proteins, depends upon the presence in 
its molecules of all the essential amino acids and upon the extent to 
which their proportions correspond to those existing in the body 
proteins, as one kind of protein may supplement the deficiency of 
another. It is, therefore, desirable to include in one’s diet a variety 
of foods, not of course to be eaten at the same meal, but varied 
from day to day, from week to week, and from month to month, 
such as are furnished by nature in the course of the seasons. 

The various proteins differ somewhat in elementary composition, 
within the limits of the following figures: 


Carbon 

Oxygen 

Hydrogen 

Nitrogen 

Sulphur 


(C) 50. to 55. per cent 

(0) 19. to 24. “ “ 

(H) 6.6 to 7.3 “ “ 

(N) 15. to 19. “ “ 

(S) 0.3 to 2.4 “ " 


A few of the vegetable and animal proteins have been analyzed 
and their highly complicated atomic structure is indicated by the 
following formulas: 


No. of Atoms in 
the Molecule 


Egg-albumin C 204 

Globulin from pumpkin 
seeds C 292 

Protein in hemoglobin of 
horse C 680 

Protein in hemoglobin of 
dog C 726 


H 322 

n 02 

0.. 

s 2 

646 

h 481 

N.„ 

0»3 

s 2 

948 

H-1098 

N 

x>l 210 

o 241 

s 2 

2231 

-^1171 

n 194 

0 214 

s 3 

2308 


It appears that the proteins in the various species of plants and 
animals have a different atomic structure and arrangement, and 
even among the same species there seems to be a difference in that 
respect, which is, to a certain extent, reflected in the physical de¬ 
velopment of the individual. A very serious mistake is often made 
by valuing all proteins alike. For instance, the amount of pro- 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 51 

tein in meat is calculated according to amounts of nitrogen it 
contains, multiplying this amount by 6.25; but we find in meat a 
considerable quantity of gelatinous substances, which have a totally 
different action in nutrition from that of protein. Artificial prep¬ 
aration, like cooking or frying, diminishes the nutritive value of 
proteins to some extent, a fact which should be also considered. 

Again, the proteins derived from fresh fruits and vegetables, 
also those from uncooked milk, are associated with a greater amount 
of alkaline elements which, from a hygienic point of view, make 
vegetable proteins superior to those obtained from flesh foods. 

The nucleo-proteins, so called because they occur in the nuclei 
of cells, generally contain a small amount of phosphorus, while 
hemoglobin, a protein compound constituting the red coloring 
matter of the blood, contains, besides sulphur, about 0.3 per cent 
iron, two atoms of sulphur combining with one of iron. 

The fibrous tissues of animals, such as are found in bones, ten¬ 
dons, and ligaments, contain a substance known as collagen, which, 
when boiled in water, is transformed into gelatine. The per¬ 
centage composition of the varieties of gelatine is nearly the same 
as that of the proteins. The former are somewhat poorer in carbon 
and richer in oxygen; they are products of the beginning of the 
breaking up and oxidation of the proteins in the animal body, con¬ 
sequently the heat equivalent of gelatine is lower than that of the 
proteins. Experiments have shown that no protein can be produced 
from gelatine, although we know that all gelatine-yielding tissues 
are formed from protein. But if to a small amount of the protein 
in the food, which was not in itself sufficient to prevent a loss of 
tissue-protein, gelatine was added, the nitrogenous equilibrium 
was restored. The gelatine, therefore, had preserved the protein 
of the tissues from decomposition. This protein-sparing action is 
also shared by fats and carbohydrates, but not in the same degree 
as by gelatine. 

Since muscle consists chiefly of protein, the early students of 
physiology supposed that this substance was the source of muscular 
energy. This view was first maintained by Baron von Liebig who 
contrasted the foodstuffs containing no nitrogen (the fats and 
carbohydrates), which he named “respiratory foods,” with the 
proteins, which he termed “plaster foods.” He believed that the 
former served mainly to generate heat, while the latter were indis- 


52 


RATIONAL DIET 


pensable for the production of energy. Today we know that in 
muscular work, the excretion of nitrogen is increased only to a 
very slight degree, but that the excretion of carbonic acid and the 
absorption of oxygen is notably increased; that, therefore, muscu¬ 
lar energy is mainly derived from non-nitrogenous substances. A 
portion of the carbon and hydrogen of the protein molecule will 
be oxidized within the body, but there remains a nucleus of nitro¬ 
gen, with some carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which resists com¬ 
bustion and must be excreted by the liver and kidneys. In physical 
exercise, when foods rich in proteins are the sole source of the 
energy of muscular contraction, the work accomplished results 
from the direct oxidation of carbohydrate material, indirectly de¬ 
rived from the protein molecules. But for the normal man this 
process is far less economical physiologically than the direct utili¬ 
zation of carbohydrate and fat, introduced in the form of natural 
foods, such as fruit, nuts, cereal or vegetable products in proper 
combinations, furnishing sufficient protein to meet the ordinary 
nitrogen requirements of the body. While an increase in the pro¬ 
tein may assist in building new tissues, the source of muscular 
energy is to be chiefly found in the oxidation of the non-nitrogenous 
materials, carbohydrate and fat. 

It has been one of the physiological dogmas of the past that 
the tissues and organs of the body, or rather their constituent cells, 
must be supplied with protein for all their functions whenever it 
was available. The remarkable fact that the output of nitrogen is 
equivalent to the intake of protein; that the body cannot store up 
nitrogen to any considerable extent, has been taken as conclusive 
evidence that the organism prefers to use protein for most of its 
requirements. We may with more valid reason argue that the 
large and significant increase in excretion of nitrogen, after partak¬ 
ing of foods rich in proteins, is an indication that the body has 
no need of this excess of nitrogen; that it is really a possible source 
of danger, since the system immediately rids itself of the surplus, 
involving a needless waste of vital energy. 

The metabolism in the body usually takes place in the active 
tissues, but, according to our present knowledge of the matter, it 
does not seem to occur at the expense of the protein in living cells. 
In other words, it is not the protein incorporated in the cells that 
undergoes change, but the protein circulating in and about the 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


53 


internal meshes of the cells and tissues, the living cell being the 
active agent in controlling the process. This view readily explains 
the elimination of nitrogen after a meal rich in proteins, as a means 
of excreting a surplus of food elements for which the body has no 
need. 

As the protein changes into blood and lymph, the fluids bathing 
the cells are correspondingly enriched, and as a result the break¬ 
ing down of protein molecules is accelerated to the same degree. 
The protein organized in the cell is never decomposed directly. 
It must first undergo cleavage, and then under the influence of 
the living cells it will be changed into carbonic acid and urea in 
the same manner as the circulating protein. It is evident that an 
excess of the latter will be attended by an increased excretion of 
nitrogen in the form of waste products, while at the same time 
there may be some accumulation of protein in the cells, and conse¬ 
quently some conversion into superfluous tissue. During fasting, 
or with an insufficient intake of protein, the current will naturally 
be in the opposite direction, and the organized proteids of the cells 
will slowly but surely be drawn upon. A small amount of protein 
(one to two ounces) will always be necessary to supply the loss 
incidental to tissue waste, but beyond this requirement there is no 
real need of protein. We may compare, to a certain extent, the 
tissues of the body with the structure of an engine which wears 
out very slowly, while fresh fuel for power must constantly be 
supplied. 

The physiological fuel value of protein, containing as it does 
from fifty per cent to fifty-five per cent of carbon, is not greater 
than that of an equal amount of sugar or starch, and considerably 
less than half that of fat. Consequently, there is no reason why 
protein should be used for its energy-value in preference to the 
non-nitrogenous foodstuffs. As already indicated, muscular energy 
is mainly the result of the direct oxidation of fat and carbohy¬ 
drates, while in the breaking down of protein molecules a large 
proportion of nitrogenous matter has to be split off and disposed 
of before the carbon molecule can be rendered available. This 
process involves not only a loss of energy, but, in addition, a cer¬ 
tain amount of useless labor is thrown upon the liver, kidneys and 
other organs. The greater part of the protein included in so-called 
standard diets is not needed. In order to make use of the carbon 


54 


RATIONAL DIET 


contained in the protein molecule, the organism is forced to tem¬ 
porarily put extra work upon the excretory organs. 

The numerous dietary studies made in the United States and 
Europe do not throw light on the hygienic aspect of the food prob¬ 
lem, especially on the proper selection and combination of foods. 
The usual bill of fare is not an index to the normal needs of the 
body, but rather to the morbid cravings of perverted appetite. 
The quantity of food consumed, moreover, is by no means a safe 
indication of the physiological requirements of the body. Eating 
three or four meals a day has become a habit with many people; 
and as meat, cereals, eggs or dairy products constitute the greater 
part of the dietary, a large quantity of protein is consumed for 
which there is no actual need. No intelligent person can maintain 
that the enormous consumption of meat, alcohol, coffee and tea 
indicates a true physiological requirement. Civilized man lives to 
eat instead of eating to live, and the majority of people will con¬ 
temptuously reject any advice of moderation, until, after years of 
over-indulgence, they find themselves in the grip of chronic dis¬ 
ease. The actual requirements of the body can never be deter¬ 
mined accurately by what the average person eats and drinks, or 
by his instincts, but only by the knowledge resulting from a care¬ 
ful study of the physiological functions of the body. 

As early as 1887 experiments were made in Germany which 
demonstrated that the amount of protein used could safely be 
reduced to 40 grams (1% ounces), or to about one-third of the 
usual amount of 120 grams (4 y 2 ounces). Later investigations 
confirmed the results of these experiments. But the old standards 
of Liebig and Voit had been so firmly established in the minds of 
the medical profession, that these experiments merely excited com¬ 
ment without changing to any extent the prevalent belief of the 
necessity for large amounts of protein to maintain health and 
strength. 

In the United States extended experiments have been made by 
Professor Jaffa of the University of California at Berkeley, and 
by Dr. Russell H. Chittenden of Yale University at New Haven, 
Connecticut. Professor Jaffa’s report of investigations made 
among a number of fruitarians, contains an interesting account 
of a dietary study of a family of fruitarians, consisting of two 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


women and three children. They had all been fruitarians from 
five to seven years, their diet consisting chiefly of fruits and nuts, 
with the addition of celery, honey, olive oil, and occasionally a 
small amount of prepared cereal food. This family was in the 
habit of taking only two meals a day, at 10:30 in the morning and 
at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The first meal always consisted of 
nuts and fruit, the nuts being eaten first. At the second meal, 
nuts were usually replaced by olive oil and honey. The nuts used 
were almonds, Brazil-nuts, pine-nuts, pignolias and walnuts. 
Fruits, both fresh and dried, were used, the former including 
apples, apricots, bananas, figs, grapes, olives, oranges, peaches, 
pears, plums, and tomatoes. The dried fruits were dates and 
raisins. 

On this frugal diet, which consisted chiefly of uncooked foods, 
excluding all animal foods and legumes, this family with three 
growing children had lived in good health all these years. All 
the members of the family were put under observation for about 
three weeks. The food consumed was carefully weighed and its 
chemical composition determined. The average amount of food 
consumed per day was: 33 grams (1% ounce) of protein, 59 grams 
(2 ounces) of fat, 150 grams (Tf /3 ounces) of carbohydrates, 
with a total of about 11 ounces of solid food. 

The results of the experiments are summarized in the table 
below, which for purposes of comparison includes the results of 
Voit’s experiments on a man living on bread, fruit and oil. The 
table also gives the results of a number of American dietary studies, 
as well as the still commonly accepted standards for a man and a 
woman taking moderate muscular exercise. The figures give the 
daily amount consumed (28 grams (metric system) are equal to 
one ounce). 

Carbo- Ratio of protein 



Years 

Weight 

Cost, 

cents 

Protein, 

grams 

Fat, 

grams 

hydrates, 

grams 

to fat and 
carbohydrates 

Woman 

33 

90 lbs. 

23.1 

33 

59 

150 

1-8.6 

Woman 

30 

104 lbs. 

17.2 

25 

57 

99 

1-9.1 

Girl 

13 

75 lbs. 

19.0 

26 

52 

157 

1-10.5 

Boy 

9 

43 lbs. 

19.9 

27 

56 

152 

1-10.3 

Girl 

6 

30 lbs. 

17.0 

24 

58 

134 

1-11. 

Girl 

7 

34 lbs. 

27.5 

40 

72 

134 

1-7.4 


56 


RATIONAL DIET 


Other Dietary Studies 
German vegetarian (Voit) 
Average of 53 investigations 
well-to-do families in the U. ! 


Carbo- Ratio of protein 


Protein, 

Fat, 

hydrates, 

to fat and 

grams 

grams 

grams 

carbohydrates 

54 

22 

573 

1-11.6 

of 




103 

138 

436 

1-7.3 


Old Dietary Standards 
Man with light muscular work 
(Atwater) 112 

Man with moderate muscular work 

(Voit) 118 56 400 


1-5.8 


1-5.3 


Man with moderate muscular work 

(Atwater) 125 1-5.8 

Woman with moderate muscular 
work (Atwater) 90 1-6.1 

The experiments as a whole show very small amounts of protein, 
ranging from 24 grams (% ounce) to 40 grams (1^2 ounces) per 
day, while Atwater’s standard referred to above for a man at 
light muscular work calls for 112 grains (4 ounces) of protein. 
The nutritive ratio (protein to fat and carbohydrates) of the old 
standards ranges between 1-5 and 1-6, that of the fruitarian diet¬ 


aries between 1-7.4 and 1-11. For the adult man a nutritive ratio 


of 1-10, or even 1-12, would be adequate, which means that 
the main bulk of our food supply, whether we are vegetarians or 
not, should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably those 
which can be eaten in the uncooked state. Says Professor Jaffa 
regarding the foregoing fruitarian dietaries: 

“It would appear upon examining the recorded data and com¬ 
paring the results with commonly accepted standards, that all the 
subjects were decidedly under-nourished, even making allowance 
for their light weight. But when we consider that the two adults 
have lived on this diet for 7 years, and think they are in better 
health and capable of more work than they ever were before, we 
hesitate to pronounce judgment. The three children, though below 
the average in height and weight, had the appearance of health and 
strength. They ran and jumped and played all day like ordinary 
healthy children, and were said to be unusually free from colds 
and other complaints peculiar to childhood. ’ ’ 

Likewise, a number of German scientists have reported experi¬ 
ments with subjects on vegetarian, as well as mixed diets, furnish¬ 
ing much less nitrogen than the commonly accepted standards call 
for, and have found that the nitrogen equilibrium can be main¬ 
tained with small amounts of protein food. 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


57 


Most interesting and valuable are the systematic experiments 
conducted by Dr. Russell H. Chittenden at Yale University with 
a number of professional men and a detachment of twenty men 
from the Hospital Corps of the U. S. Army. The investigations, 
which were especially made to determine more closely the nitrogen 
requirements of man, covered many months and are fully described 
in Dr. Chittenden’s works, “The Physiological Economy of Nutri¬ 
tion’’ and “The Nutrition of Man.” The dietetic habits of all 
the men were in accord with common practice and their daily con¬ 
sumption of protein averaged from four to six ounces, which was 
gradually reduced to about two ounces. Says Dr. Chittenden: 

“The experimental results presented afford very convincing 
proof that so far as body-weight and nitrogen-equilibrium are con¬ 
cerned, the needs of the body are fully met by a consumption of 
protein food far below the fixed dietary standards and still further 
below the amounts called for by the recorded habits of mankind. 
General health is equally well maintained, and with suggestions of 
improvement that are frequently so marked as to challenge atten¬ 
tion. Most conspicuous, however, though something that was en¬ 
tirely unlooked for, was the effect observed on the muscular 
strength of the various subjects. 

“With the soldier detail, fifteen distinct strength tests were 
made with each man during the six months’ period by means of 
appropriate dynamometer tests. . . . Without exception, with all 
of the men a phenomenal gain in strength was noted, which 
demands explanation. Was it all due to the change in diet? Prob¬ 
ably not, for these men at the beginning of the experiment were 
untrained, and it is not to be assumed that months of practical 
work in the gymnasium would not result in a certain amount of 
physical development with corresponding gain in muscular skill 
and power. Putting the question aside for the moment, however, 
it is surely proper to emphasize this fact, viz., that although the 
men for a period of five months were restricted to a daily diet con¬ 
taining only one-third to one-half the amount of protein food they 
had been accustomed to, there was no loss of physical strength, no 
indication of any physical deterioration that could be detected. In 
other words, the men were certainly not being weakened by the 
lowered intake of protein food. This is in harmony with the prin¬ 
ciple already discussed, that the energy of muscle work comes pri¬ 
marily from the breaking down of non-nitrogenous material, and 
consequently a diminished intake of protein food can have no in¬ 
hibitory effect, provided of course there is an adequate amount of 
proteid ingested to satisfy the endogenous requirements of the 
tissues. ’ ’ 


58 


RATIONAL DIET 


It is now a fairly well established fact that the average need 
for proteid food by adults is fully met by a supply from five to 
six grains for each pound of body-weight. Hence, for a man 
weighing 150 pounds there would be required about two ounces of 
protein daily. Some German dietitians have reduced even this 
amount to one-half and advocate a nutritive ratio of 1:20 (propor¬ 
tion of protein to fats and carbohydrates). It should be remem¬ 
bered , however, that such low standards can be maintained only 
when due respect is paid to the quality of the food, particularly 
to its content of organic salts, a matter which has been entirely 
overlooked by nearly all investigators along these lines. 

For instance, Dr. Chittenden outlines a daily dietary in which 
sweets and farinaceous foods predominate, while there is deficiency 
of fresh fruits and well prepared vegetables, which supply the need¬ 
ful organic salts for the formation of normal and healthy blood, 
a fact which will be better understood by a careful study of the 
following chapters. Such a diet may not show any ill effects in the 
course of a few months or a year, especially if the person takes a 
liberal amount of exercise and does not take stimulants and nar¬ 
cotics. But it may be safely said that in time grave functional 
disorders will appear if the elements which are essential for the 
formation of normal and healthy blood are not furnished in suffi¬ 
cient quantity and in the right proportion. It often takes nearly 
a lifetime to ascertain the merits and demerits of a certain dietetic 
regimen. There are many persons who are apparently healthy, 
but are suddenly “stricken” with disease. 

While the menus outlined by Dr. Chittenden are better than 
the average American dietary, still they leave room for improve¬ 
ment. If the organic salts are not furnished in the right propor¬ 
tion, or if any of the elements are lacking in our daily food, which 
may be otherwise well-proportioned, the living cells of the body 
are broken down in abnormal quantities in order to make up for 
the deficiency. Nevertheless, the medical profession still holds to 
the idea that a high protein diet is necessary. Doctors are not yet 
realizing the great importance of the organic salts for the human 
body, for the performance of its various physiological functions 
and their relation to health and disease. 

While some dietitians admit that the body can maintain it¬ 
self for a short period on a small amount of protein, they claim 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


59 


that finally the organism will be injured if the usual quantity of 
nitrogenous foods is not supplied. This theory is pretty well re¬ 
futed by the investigations of the Japanese scientist, Kintaro 
Oshima, who published an interesting treatise in the English lan- 
guage giving the results of a number of experiments among all 
classes of people living in different parts of Japan where certain 
dietetic habits have been established for hundreds of years. Bays 
Oshima: 

“Probably the most interesting of the dietary studies are those 
with poorer classes which comprise by far the larger part of the 
population. The dietaries of the miscellaneous class, including 
employees, prisoners, etc., consisted largely of vegetable foods and 
supplied on an average 59 grains (2 ounces of proteid and 2190 
calories of energy) per man per day.” 

Most instructive and interesting are the results obtained in a 
study of the dietary habits of three healthy natives of Formosa, 
employed as day laborers at the military hospital. They weighed 
respectively 134, 121, 120^4 pounds. The main portion of their 
diet was rice, supplemented by a little salt fish, melon, spinach, 
ginger and greens. The daily amount of protein consumed was 
48 grams or about 37 grams (IJ /3 ounces) digestible protein, 
with a total fuel value of 1948 calories. We may assume that the 
amount of protein in the dietaries of the classes living largely on 
vegetable foods may not be very far from 2 ounces or V / 2 ounces 
digestible protein. 

Oshima gives a significant picture of the Japanese farming dis¬ 
tricts : 

“The rural population of the interior depends very largely or 
entirely upon a vegetable diet. Fish is eaten perhaps once or twice 
a month and meat once or twice a year, if at all. The poorer work¬ 
ing classes in the cities also use very little animal food. But the 
poorer classes in the city and the peasantry comprise nearly 75% 
of the total population, and it is, therefore, safe to assume that this 
proportion lives chiefly or wholly upon vegetable diet. And this, 
it may be observed, practically means vegetarianism. The so- 
called lacto-vegetarianism is unknown in Japan. Cows are scarce, 
and milk and other dairy products are expensive, and such as are 
available are consumed almost entirely by the wealthier people in 
the cities.” 

In regard to the sanitary conditions Oshima remarks that the 
peasants in the rural districts of Japan are really healthier and 
stronger than people of the better classes who live on a mixed diet. 


60 


RATIONAL DIET 


Regarding tlie disease known as beri-beri, which frequently 
occurred, especially in the Japanese navy, Oshima says: “While 
no satisfactory explanation as to the cause of disease was offered, 
it was generally believed that there was some very close relation 
between the disease and the rice-diet.’’ Baron Takaki, the Jap¬ 
anese Surgeon-General, claims that the disease is due to a lack of 
nitrogen in the food supply, but there is a more correct explana¬ 
tion of the cause of this dreaded nervous disease. The Japanese 
remove the outer coat from the rice-kernel and with it some im¬ 
portant organic salts, especially potash, magnesia, oxide of iron, 
fluoride of calcium and silica. Fish is also deficient in iron and 
silica, and when at the same time not a sufficient quantity of fresh 
vegetables is supplied, the blood is impoverished and the nerves 
starved. In combating the disease, a liberal supply of vegetables 
which are rich in soda, iron, silica and chlorine, is far more effec¬ 
tive than an increase of nitrogenous food in the form of canned 
meats which were imported in large quantities during the recent 
war. From the official reports it appears that, in considering the 
dietetic requirements of man, too much attention has been paid to 
the proteins, and not enough to the proportion of the organic salts. 

The experiments of the German scientist Rubner demonstrated 
that only four per cent of the entire production of energy in the 
system goes to the renewal of the tissues , and only four per cent 
have to be supplied by the proteins of our food. In a total produc¬ 
tion of about 2,800 calories per day, this would amount to about 
112 calories, equal to about one ounce of protein, or four times 
less than the requirements of the old formulas of Voit and Atwater. 
The low protein requirements of man’s normal diet are distinctly 
proven by the changes which occur in mother’s milk, at the differ¬ 
ent stages of the child’s development; these changes are illustrated 
in the following table, giving the analyses taken at different periods: 


TIME AFTER BIRTH 

Protein 

Per Cent 

Fat 

Per Cent 

Milk Sugar 
Per Cent 

From the 8th to the 11th day 

2.38 

2.92 

6.39 

From the 20th to the 40th day 

1.79 

4.04 

6.36 

From the 70th to the 120th day 

1.49 

3.29 

6.66 

At the 170th and later 

1.07 

2.47 

6.86 


The mammary glands of the mother supply less protein as the 
nursing child grows older, so that after six months the percentage 


PROTEINS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


61 


of protein has decreased about seventy per cent, and at the end of 
the nursing period the ratio of protein to non-nitrogenous com¬ 
pounds may he considered as one to twelve. 

Another important fact regarding nutrition is that the milk 
of the various mammals has different amounts of protein adapted 
to the rapidity of the growth of the organism. Bunge shows this 
in the following comparative table: 


Man 

Time in days for 
the new-born animal 
to double its weight 

180 

100 parts of 
milk contain 
protein 

1.6 (average) 

Horse 

60 

2.0 

<< 

Calf 

47 

3.5 

< < 

Kid 

19 

4.3 

< < 

Pig 

18 

5.9 

< < 

Lamb 

10 

6.5 

< < 

Dog 

8 

7.1 

< < 

Cat 

7 

9.5 

< i 


It appears that the rapidly growing body of the infant is well 
nourished with milk containing less than two per cent protein, or 
about one-half an ounce of protein per day, figuring four pints of 
milk as a liberal daily supply. 

These are certainly excellent proofs that our daily require¬ 
ment of protein is much smaller than has been so far assumed. 
The necessary amount of from one to about two ounces per day 
for the adult man can easily be supplied by the products of the 
vegetable kingdom without unduly taxing the digestive organs. 
The craving for concentrated protein foods, like meat, is one of 
man’s acquired habits which lead to many diseased conditions. A 
diet of fresh fruits and green-leaf vegetables, supplemented by a 
small amount of nuts (preferably nut butter, hygienically pre¬ 
pared), or dairy products, furnishes sufficient protein*for almost 
any emergency, and such a diet is at the same time most conducive 
to health and longevity. 


CHAPTER VII 

Fats 

The non-nitrogenous constituents of foods are divided into two 
distinct groups: fats and carbohydrates. Both groups are made up 
of the same three elements—carbon, hydrogen and oxygen—but 
the quantitative composition is quite different. 

Fats are much poorer in oxygen and richer in carbon and 
hydrogen than carbohydrates, while their heat equivalent is much 
greater. They yield 4040 calories per pound, while carbohydrates 
furnish only 1820 calories per pound. The fats are made up of 
about 76 per cent carbon, 12 per cent hydrogen and 12 per cent 
oxygen. 

Fats, as previously stated, exist chiefly in the seeds of plants 
and to some extent in fruits, leaves and stems, also in animal 
foods, such as milk, eggs and meat. In the animal body fat is mostly 
deposited near the surface, but it is also scattered in minute parti¬ 
cles through the various tissues. Fats form on an average about 
fifteen per cent of the weight of the body, but the amount varies 
with the quantity and quality of food, exercise, climatic and other 
conditions. When more food is taken than is necessary for imme¬ 
diate use, the surplus is usually stored up as fat in the body. Lack 
of certain organic salts, like iron and sodium, in food also favors 
the formation of fat, since the blood is unable to take up a suffi¬ 
cient amount of oxygen for the complete combustion of the carbon. 
Under these conditions, both protein and carbohydrates are con¬ 
verted into adipose tissue. 

The fats found in plants are, like the carbohydrates, derived 
from carbon dioxide and water, and are also very likely formed 
synthetically through the agency of chlorophyl. The fat in the 
animal body may have three different sources. One portion may 
be derived from the fats which have been ingested as food; an¬ 
other may be formed from the different carbohydrates; while a 
third may be the product of the decomposition of protein. That 
portion of the body’s fat which is directly derived from the ingested 
fats is comparatively small, the greater amount resulting from 
the carbohydrates. 


62 


FATS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


63 


The principal fats contained in vegetable and animal food pro¬ 
ducts are olein, palmitin and stearin. These are chemical combi¬ 
nations of glycerin (C 3 H 8 0 3 ) and fatty acids; the former being a 
common constituent, while each fat shows its own characteristic 
acid. Accordingly we find: 

Oleic acid (C 18 H 34 0 2 ) in olein 
Palmitic acid (C 16 H 32 0 2 ) in palmitin 
Stearic acid (C 18 II 36 0 2 ) in stearin 

In round numbers it may be said that fats are composed of 
nine parts of a fatty acid and one part of glycerine. When at a 
moderate temperature these combinations are in a liquid form they 
are called oil. If in a solid or semi-solid condition, they are known 
as fats. 

The three above mentioned fatty acids are the most important 
from a dietetic point of view, as they make up the greater part of 
the edible vegetable oils and fats. Of the three, oleic acid consti¬ 
tutes the greatest part of nearly all fats, especially oil. Palmitic 
acid exists chiefly in certain forms of vegetable oil and fats, while 
stearic acid is a constituent of animal oils and fats. 

The hydrogenation of fats and oils, a process recently discov¬ 
ered, is now widely used for hardening fats. The process consists 
of heating them to a temperature of from 212° F. to 400° F., and 
introducing hydrogen in connection with some catalyctic agent, 
such as nickel or platinum. By means of this process the oleic 
acid molecule takes up two atoms of hydrogen and is turned into 
stearic acid. After completing the process the metal is removed by 
filtration. The heating of the oils destroys the natural flavor and 
the vitamins. Cottonseed oil, peanut oil and corn oil are generally 
hydrogenated, while the oils of olives and nuts are not, as a rule, 
subjected to this process, and therefore are preferable. 

In nearly all fats there is found also a small quantity of free 
acid, that is, a fatty acid which is uncombined with the glycerine. 
This free acid is contained in larger proportions in over-ripe and 
older plants than in the freshly matured ones. The extracted oil 
also contains certain other ingredients or impurities, which have 
to be removed by the process of refining before they are ready for 
the table. Among the free fatty acids may be mentioned linolin 
acid, which exists in considerable quantities in the oil of flaxseed, 
giving to it the property of a drying oil which makes it useful in 


64 


RATIONAL DIET 


the manufacture of paints. All oils and fats which contain appre¬ 
ciable quantities of linolin, or any other fatty acid which has drying 
properties, are not fit for nutrition. The principal drying oils are 
linseed oil, hempseed oil, and poppy seed oil. Small quantities of 
free acids are found in cottonseed oil, sesame oil, maize or corn oil, 
and rapeseed oil. Olive oil and peanut oil are the best oils from 
a hygienic point of view. 

One of the vegetable oils which contains particularly injurious 
substances is castor oil. The poisonous and purgative effects are 
due to a substance called ricinolein. The castor bean from which 
the oil is obtained, contains also a poisonous alkaloid called ricin, 
particles of which are mingled with the oil itself. 

All fats have a lower specific gravity than water, usually rang¬ 
ing from 0.89 to 0.94. 

Essential or volatile oils which are mostly used for flavoring 
purposes, differ from fats or fixed oils in chemical composition and 
physical properties. They are readily volatilized, leaving no resi¬ 
due, while the fixed fats are practically non-volatile. The charac¬ 
teristic flavor of many fruits and vegetables is due to the essential 
oils they contain. These oils have little food value, but often pro¬ 
mote favorable digestive action and increase the palatability of the 
food. 

Closely related to the fats are the different lecithins and 
cholesterins . The lecithins are compounds which may be regarded 
as a union of one molecule of glycerine with two molecules of a 
fatty acid, one molecule of phosphoric acid and one molecule of 
cholin, with the loss of four molecules of water. Cholin has an 
ammonium base, the composition of which is indicated by the chem¬ 
ical formula CgCLH^N. The lecithins are widely distributed 
in both the animal and vegetable worlds. They are found in all 
cells and body fluids and are especially abundant in nerve-tissue, 
as well as in the eggs, in the ovum and semen of animals and 
man. In common with fats, to which they are very similar in com¬ 
position, lecithins have the property of solubility in alcohol and 
ether, but at the same time they possess the peculiar power of 
swelling and becoming slimy in water. This property enables them 
to aid in the interaction of watery solutions and substances not 
soluble in water, and also to take part in a large variety of chemi- 


FATS; THEIR COMPOSITION 


65 


cal processes of the body. The presence of lecithin in milk shows 
how indispensable this substance is in nutrition of the infant. 

The cholesterins, like the lecithins, are normal constituents of 
all vegetable and animal tissues, as well as of milk. They are 
especially abundant in the nerve tissue and in bile. Like lecithins 
and fats, they are insoluble in water, but soluble in ether and 
alcohol. The chemical composition of cholesterin is represented by 
the formula C 27 H 46 0. 

In natural food products the fats are mingled with other sub¬ 
stances. Free fats, such as oils (extracted from oily seeds or 
fruits) and butter, are highly concentrated food principles and 
should be used sparingly and not without some less concentrated 
foods, such as green-leaf vegetables, which are rich in alkaline 
bases. In order to be digested, fats must be saponified, i. e., split 
up in the intestine into glycerine and salts of fatty acids. The 
presence of free alkalies, especially sodium salts, is necessary for 
this process of saponification and these are furnished by the bile 
and pancreatic juice. The fatty acids, after saponification, are 
absorbed and reconstructed into neutral fats. Fats derived from 
the vegetable kingdom should always be preferred to those derived 
from dead animals. The following table gives the percentage of 
fat in various food products: 

Amount of Fat in Food Materials 

ANIMAL PRODUCTS 


White of eggs 

0.25 

per 

cent 

Yolk of egg 

32. 

per 

cent 

Buttermilk 

0.50 

< ( 

< < 

Swiss cheese 

35. 

< < 

< < 

Cottage cheese 
Cow’s milk 

1. 

< < 

t < 

Salt pork 

60. 

(< 

< t 

3.70 

< < 

< < 

Bacon, smoked 

62. 

(* 

< < 

Human milk 

4. 

< < 

11 

Oleomargarine 

83. 

i < 

< < 

Meat, average 

5. 

< < 

i c 

Cow’s butter 

85. 

< < 

< < 

Eggs, whole 

12. 

< < 

a 

Lard, unrefined 

94. 

< * 

t i 

Cream 

18.50 

(i 

t < 






VEGETABLES 

AND FRUITS 




Vegetables 0.10 to 1. 

per 

cent 

Sunflower seed 

32. 

per 

cent 

Sweet 




Poppy seed 

38. 

< < 

< < 

fruits 0.50 to 1. 

( < 

i < 

Cocoa beans 

50. 

< t 

(< 

Legumes 1. 

to 2. 

< < 

< i 

Olive (dried) 

52. 

< < 

< < 

Avocado 

20. 

< < 

< < 

Refined oils 

100. 

< i 

< i 

Mustard seed 

30. 

i < 

u 









66 


RATIONAL DIET 


Amount of Fat in Food Materials—Continued 


cereals 


Polished rice 

0.50 

per cent 

Barley 

2.20 

per 

cent 

Unpolished rice 

0.90 

< < < < 

Wheat bran 

3.50 

(* 

4 4 

White flour 

0.90 

<« a 

Rye bran 
Millet 

3.70 

3.80 

(< 

< i 

4 4 

44 

Corn flour 

1.30 

i ( < ( 

Corn 

4.60 

< < 

4 4 

Whole rye 

1.80 

4 4 u 

Oats 

5.20 

4 4 

4 4 

Whole wheat 

1.90 

“ “ Rice bran 

NUTS 

7.80 

4 4 

4 4 

Chestnuts, dry 

7. 

per cent 

Pistachios 

55. 

per 

cent 

Coeoanuts 

36. 

4 4 u 

Pinons 

62. 

4 4 

4 4 

Beechnuts 

42.50 

4 4 ( ( 

Filberts 

64. 

4 4 

4 4 

Peanuts 

45. 

4 4 4 4 

Walnuts 

65. 

4 4 

4 4 

Pignolias 

48. 

(< (< 

Brazil nuts 

65. 

4 4 

4 4 

Almonds 

55. 

< < (< 

Pecans 

70. 

4 4 

4 4 









CHAPTER VIII 


Carbohydrates 

Carbohydrates comprise a number of chemically related sub¬ 
stances : the sugars of different kinds; the various forms of starch 
in its normal condition, as well as in soluble form, such as 
dextrins, etc.; the gums, pectins, or jelly-like bodies; and finally 
fiber and cellulose. They contain on an average 44 per cent car¬ 
bon, 6 per cent hydrogen, 50 per cent oxygen. 

They are subdivided according to their chemical composition 
into three distinct groups: 

1. Monosaccharides (C 6 H 12 0 6 ), comprising grape sugar (dex¬ 
trose or glucose), fruit sugar (fructose or levulose) and galatose 
(derived from milk sugar). 

2. Disaccharides (C 12 H 22 0 11 ), comprising sucrose (saccharose 
or cane sugar) found often combined with dextrose and fructose in 
the juice of many fruits and vegetables, maltose (malt sugar) 
formed from starch by enzymic action, and lactose (milk sugar) 
found in the milk of all mammals. 

3. Polysaccharides (C 6 H 10 O 6 ) X; “X” being a variable fac¬ 
tor, but always exceeding 2. They include starch, in which form 
nature stores most of the carbohydrates in the vegetable kingdom; 
glycogen, which is stored as reserve carbohydrate principally in the 
liver and muscular tissues of the animals; dextrins, which are 
formed from starch by diastase, acid or heat; cellulose, principally 
found in wood and in the cell walls of plants; galactans, which oc¬ 
cur in seeds of legumes and cereals, in some of the algae and lichens, 
and the pectins or jelly-like bodies. To this group also belong the 
pentosans (C 5 H 8 0 4 ) X, which generally exist in the fibrous tissues 
and gummy exudations of plants, but not in the starchy and succu¬ 
lent parts. 

By the chemical addition of a certain amount of water the 
second and third groups can be converted into substances of the 
first. This process is called inversion and may be produced in a 
number of ways. 

Grape-sugar and fruit-sugar exist together in most of the sweet 


67 


68 


RATIONAL DIET 


fruits and honey, and, although they have the same chemical com¬ 
position, they are not identical bodies. This is accounted for by 
their peculiar molecular structure, the same number of atoms being 
arranged in a different way. 

Cane sugar (sucrose), or the more or less refined sugar of com¬ 
merce, is two and one-half times sweeter than grape sugar. It 
exists in many vegetable juices. It is found in the stems and roots 
of all the grasses, especially in the sugar cane and sorghum; 
in succulent roots, such as the carrot, turnip, sweet potato 
and sugar beet; in the sap of trees, such as the date palm and 
sugar maple; also to a small extent in all sweet fruits, and in the 
nectar of flowers. [The commercial manufacture of refined sugar 
from sugar beets and sugar cane has developed from crude begin¬ 
nings. In ancient times sugar was -a very expensive luxury, mostly 
imported from the Orient. In the latter part of the nineteenth 
century the manufacture of refined sugar from sugar cane and 
sugar beets developed to such an extent, both in America and in 
Europe, that it is now one of the great staples of commerce. 

Cane sugar cannot be directly utilized in the body. By the 
action of a ferment in the intestine known as invertin it is con¬ 
verted into monosaccharides, that is, changed into levulose and 
glucose which are ready for immediate absorption and use in the 
system. The change of cane sugar in solution into dextrose and 
levulose can also be brought about to some extent by the action of 
heat and diluted acids, as in cooking fruits with cane sugar. 

Maltose, belonging to the same group of disaccharides, is pro¬ 
duced in sprouting grains by a digestive process which converts the 
starch into sugar. The unorganized ferment, or enzyme, which 
accomplishes this change is known as diastase. A similar ferment 
is found in the saliva, as well as in the pancreatic juice. This fer¬ 
ment is able to convert raw starch into maltose, which may be 
absorbed without undergoing change in the intestine. 

It should be borne in mind, however, that the various forms of 
sugar, as we find them in their natural state in fruits, stems and 
roots, are organized by nature during the process of growth, and 
intimately associated with other nourishing constituents. Sugars 
contained in natural food products are infinitely better than the 
manufactured sweets of commerce, which are chemically isolated 
food principles and can never fully supply the needs of the body. 


CARBOHYDRATES 


69 


The reason for the injurious effects of manufactured sugar and 
glucose is that they are artificially extracted and separated from 
those organic combinations which are necessary for the building 
up of tissues and bones, for the proper functioning of the nervous 
system and the purification of the blood. Without a constant re¬ 
newal of the elements of iron and sodium the blood cannot take 
up sufficient oxygen and the products of combustion cannot be 
neutralized and eliminated. The blood stream is overloaded with 
waste products, causing sluggishness and general drowsiness, the 
symptoms of carbonic acid poisoning. 

The extensive use of artificial sweets, especially in connection 
with starch foods is responsible for a large number of diseases of 
the digestive organs. The liver and kidneys are severely affected by 
the increased formation of toxic substances, and the accumulation 
of acids in the blood causes a catarrhal condition of all the mucous 
membranes^ Not enough can be said in warning against the preva¬ 
lent and extensive use of refined sugar in the various forms of 
pastry and confectionery. That the general public is not aware 
of the injurious effects of artificial sweets, seems to be indicated by 
the rapid increase in the manufacture and consumption of sugar. 

Figures gathered by the Bureau of Statistics show that the 
average American consumes about ninety pounds of sugar every 
year, and Uncle Sam’s sugar bill averages over two million dol¬ 
lars a day. The total annual consumption of sugar in the United 
States amounts to about ten billion pounds. Calculating this enor¬ 
mous total at the average retail price of 7}4 cents per pound, we 
get a total of $750,000,000 as its cost to the consumers. 

The per capita consumption of sugar in the principal countries 
is as follows: 


Australia 

112.96 pounds 

England 

95.70 

< ( 

Canada 

92.70 

<< 

Argentine Republic 

64.10 

< < 

Germany 

40.92 

(i 

France 

36.05 

i i 

Austria 

24.32 

«( 

Russia 

20.55 

i < 

Spain 

11.37 

11 

Italy 

7.63 

11 

Europe 

31.61 

11 


70 


RATIONAL DIET 


The foregoing table shows that the United States consumed 
more sugar per capita than any other countries except Australia 
and England, the consumption in this country being nearly three 
times as much as in European countries in general. Whatever in¬ 
terest these figures may possess from a commercial standpoint, con¬ 
sidered from a hygienic point of view, they are deplorable. Indeed, 
the use of artificial sweets is one of the most pernicious customs of 
the day, causing defective development of the skeleton of the infan¬ 
tile body, and in later years a morbid softening of the bones, mak¬ 
ing dentistry one of the most lucrative professions in this country. 

The taste for sweets is natural, and indicates a physiological 
demand. This demand, however, can be met only by the natural 
sweets existing principally in sweet fruits. The nutritious and 
fattening qualities of the whole sugar cane, for instance, are suf¬ 
ficiently shown on every sugar estate. The negroes of the West 
Indies and animals about the plantation at the time of harvest 
show conclusively, by the excellent state of their health, the 
wholesome and nutritious properties of the cane juice. This is 
but another illustration of the fact that we cannot improve on 
nature; for in the ripened sugar cane sugar is organized with 
other constituents, making it a complete food. 

Some of the sugar that is not immediately needed by the system 
is converted by the liver into glycogen, and stored away in that 
organ and in the muscles for future use in the performance of 
muscular work. The habitual indulgence in sugar in the concen¬ 
trated form, causes fatty degeneration of the organs of the body. 
This condition is known to be the foundation of such disorders 
as diabetes, apoplexy, paralysis, fatty heart and abnormal condi¬ 
tions of the liver, kidneys, muscles and bones. Again, sugar in 
great excess of what the liver can take care of, causes fermenta¬ 
tion in the alimentary canal, producing alcohol, carbonic and acetic 
acids. Like all other acquired tastes, the sugar eating habit is hard 
to give up, but numerous tests have shown that when the habit is 
once broken, the natural taste of food appears more pleasant than 
when it is disguised by the presence of manufactured sugar. 

Milk sugar, or lactose, is similar in chemical composition to 
cane sugar, but is not nearly so sweet. It is found in the milk of 
all mammals in various percentages, ranging from two to eight per 
cent. It is the most digestible sugar for infants. When milk is 


CARBOHYDRATES 


71 


exposed to the air, the milk sugar undergoes decomposition whereby 
lactic acid is formed and the milk becomes sour. In fermentation 
one molecule of milk sugar takes up one of water and splits into 
four of lactic acid. (C 12 H 22 O n plus H 2 0 equals 4C 3 H 6 0 3 .) 

Starch, next to water, is the substance most abundant in the 
average diet of man, largely because the majority of the food prod¬ 
ucts which contain it can be produced cheaply. In nature starches 
are never found in their proximate form—they are always inti¬ 
mately connected with other food-elements of the protoplasmic cell. 

The general formula for starches and dextrins, or polysaccha¬ 
rides, is (C 6 H 10 O 5 ) X, in which “X” is a variable factor, but al¬ 
ways exceeds two. In the case of the starch molecule X is equiva¬ 
lent to 108; in others, such as glycogen and dextrins, X is much 
smaller. Starch is the form in which nature stores up the carbo¬ 
hydrates in seeds and roots for future use. If sugar were stored 
away in the place of starch it would be dissolved by the first rain¬ 
storm, and the water would spoil the seed; but raw starch 
is insoluble and at the same time unfermentable. For instance, 
there is but little starch in corn until it is perfectly ripe; then 
the soluble dextrine and sugar are converted into starch and 
deposited in the kernel for future use. If green corn is eaten we 
get the starch mostly in soluble form, but, as the kernels mature, 
the dextrin and sugar are finally converted into starch, leaving to 
remain only a small quantity of sucrose. The same is true of all 
the cereals. 

Raw starch grains from different kinds of plants vary in their 
microscopic appearance, and it is interesting to study their peculiar 
structure. Arthur Meyer, a German scientist, made a series of 
investigations of starch grains, and as a result of his work he offers 
a theory of starch composition which is generally accepted by the 
botanists today. Starch grains are more or less regular spheres, 
composed of a mass of radiating needle-shaped crystals, which he 
calls “ trichites. ’ ’ 


Four-layered Starch Grain, accor 
to Professor Meyer 






72 


RATIONAL DIET 


The diagram on page 71, taken from Professor Meyer’s ‘‘Inves¬ 
tigations of Starch Granules,” illustrates his theory of a four¬ 
layered starch grain, while the illustration following gives the 
appearance of raw starch grains, magnified 385 times. 

C 

0 © 

e f 

Starch grains: o, from potato; h, from arrowroot; c and d, from wheat; 
c side view, d flat view; e and f from barley; g, from corn (maize); h, from 
rice. (Courtesy of U. S. Dept, of Agriculture.) 

First we note the characteristic appearance of a normal potato 
starch grain, showing on an average of twenty layers. According 
to Professor Meyer these layers are composed of trichites and are 
successively deposited one outside of another, beginning with the 
point of origin. The difference in the appearance of the layers of 
the various starches is due to the changing size of the trichites and 
to the smaller or larger amount of space between them. This, 
again, is due to alternating changes in growth conditions in the 
plant cell under which the grain is formed, the loose layers being 
produced, during the night, by partial solution on the surface of 
the starch deposited during the previous day. The outer layer is 
not different from the others except that in some cases it is more 
dense, due to the fact that the starch is gathered after the end of 
the growth period in the plant, and the last growth is slower than 
the first. 

The starches of all grains are similarly constructed, although 
they present different appearances. The potato and arrowroot 
starch grains are irregularly ovoid solid grains, while the wheat 
and barley starch grains are lens-shaped, showing a hollowed space 









CARBOHYDRATES 


73 


in the center. Rice and cornstarch grains are generally polyhedral 
in shape, with a more or less star-shaped crack in the center. The 
starch grains are of various sizes, and there are several hundred in 
a single cell, and from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 in a kernel of wheat. 
The flour cells, which are found in the interior portion of the wheat 
kernel, in addition to starch, contain gluten and a small proportion 
of fat and mineral matter; they do not consist of starch only, as 
appears from the following illustration: 




Fig. 1. Starch grains in a flour Fig. 2. Protoplasmic structure of 

cell of the wheat berry a flour cell with its nucleus 

(Courtesy U. S. Dept, of Agriculture.) 

In order to make clear the complicated structure of a single flour 
cell, we should remember that starch grains (Fig. 1) are embedded 
in the protoplasmic network (Fig. 2). The character of the cell 
contents varies considerably in different parts of the wheat berry. 
The interior portions show proportionately more starch than the 
outer layers of the kernel, which are richer in gluten and mineral 
elements. 

We have learned that nature changes sugar and dextrine in the 
ripening grain into insoluble starch, and the protoplasmic flour 
cell contains the food with which the little plant has to start out 
in life in the succeeding generation. But the embryo plant, which 
again proceeds from the germ, cannot make any use of raw starch; 
so nature deposits in each kernel of grain, like wheat, corn, barley, 
or rye, a little digestive agent, called diastase, which has the power 
of converting the starch into soluble form, as soon as the sun, 




74 


RATIONAL DIET 


moisture and warmth begin their action on the soil. Thus the food 
is made digestible for the embryo plant, furnishing it with material 
for building up a stem with its two rudimentary leaves, the plant 
being nourished in this manner until it grows well above the 
ground, for only under the vitalizing influence of the direct sun¬ 
light is starch formed in the chlorophyll grains by the chemical 
combination of carbon dioxide and water. 

Sachs, another German scientist, has clearly shown by a series of 
experiments, that as soon as the breaking up of the carbonic acid 
ceases, during the night, the formation of starch also ceases. As 
starch, in addition to carbon, contains only hydrogen and oxygen 
in the same relative proportion as water, it can be derived by 
synthesis from the carbon that is set free and the water that is 
received through the roots. In starch we have the first and sole 
visible product of assimilation, from which all other organic com¬ 
pounds of the plant are derived, by means of chemical combination 
with other elements. If, therefore, the plant forms later other 
carbohydrates, fats, and finally proteids, all of which contain car¬ 
bon, it can only employ starch as a starting point. It is the plant 
which originally constructs the highly complex protein molecule 
out of the simplest inorganic compounds, carbon dioxide, water, 
salts and ammonia. Man and all animals are directly or indirectly 
dependent on the vegetable kingdom for their food. 

As already stated, the raw starch is converted into soluble forms 
of carbohydrates, by the action of diastase which belongs to the 
unorganized but soluble ferments called ‘‘enzymes.” These fer¬ 
ments have a cell structure like the organized ferments, and are 
composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and mineral mat¬ 
ter. Diastase coagulates in a watery solution on being heated 
to 167° F. When dry it withstands a temperature of 310° F. Its 
action upon starch is increased by the presence of minimum 
amounts of acids, as well as small amounts of salts. Greater 
amounts of acids and alkalies hinder or completely check its action. 
Under favorable conditions diastase is able to convert large 
amounts of starch into soluble compounds. When starch is exposed 
to the action of diastase, it undergoes a series of successive decom¬ 
positions, resulting finally in maltose. All of these intermediate 
products are soluble in water, and hence more easily assimilated 
and digested than the natural starch grain. 


CARBOHYDRATES 


75 


The enzymes are found principally in cereal grains, and it ap¬ 
pears that each species possesses a specific enzyme, but so far the 
enzyme of barley, or diastase, has served as the type for this kind 
of ferments. Certain bacteria act upon solid or liquefied starch in a 
manner similar to diastase, and the action is probably due to an 
enzyme secreted by the bacteria. The yeast employed for raising 
bread contains also a specific enzyme, capable of inverting many 
times its own weight of starch and producing the fermentable 
dextrose. All these enzymes become active during the process of 
germination, and as moisture is the exciting cause of this activity, 
it follows that, whenever raw grain or the flour prepared from it 
is moistened, as in the preparation of bread, conditions are pro¬ 
duced for the action of the diastase upon starch. The action of 
the enzymes, however, is checked as soon as the baking begins, as 
they are rendered ineffective by a temperature exceeding 167° F. 

During exposure to heat and moisture the starch cells are also 
affected in a mechanical way, and the following illustration shows 
how the starch cells of the potato are changed in cooking. 



Changes of starch cells in cooking: a, cells of a raw potato with starch 
grains in natural condition; b, cells of a partially cooked potato; c, cells of a 
thoroughly boiled potato. (Courtesy of U. S. Dept, of Agriculture.) 


The expanding steam breaks the minute cell walls and the 
starch grains inside the cells are thus released; some of them being 
also disintegrated, while part of them are changed into the soluble 
form of dextrine. When suspended in water, all varieties of starch 
are converted in soluble forms at a temperature of 212° F. or less. 
In order to cook starch it is essential that every grain be brought 
into contact with water of at least 140° to 178° F. The action be¬ 
comes less marked where the starch is merely moist. Dry starch 
is converted into soluble forms at about 400° F., the temperature 






76 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the bake oven. According to these views the starch of bread 
should be made largely soluble by baking, but only a small amount 
of soluble starch, dextrine, etc., is produced in the crust of the 
loaf. The starch of the interior is hardly heated beyond 212° F., 
and this is not sufficient in the absence of an excess of moisture to 
produce the change to soluble forms. 

Contrary to generally accepted belief, the process of baking 
does not change the nature or condition of the carbohydrates in 
cereals to any appreciable extent, as it is shown in the following 
table compiled by the U. S. Department of Agriculture: 

Carbohydrates in Dry Matter op Wheat, Maize and Bread 


Whole Winter Fine Flour 

Wheat Winter Wheat Maize 



Raw Grain 

Bread 

Raw Flour 

Bread 

Raw Grain 

Bread 


Per Cent 

Per Cent 

Per Cent 

Per Cent 

Per Cent 

Per Ct. 

Sucrose 

0.51 

0.014 

0.20 

0.15 

0.27 

0.16 

Invert sugar 

0.08 

0.10 

None 

0.38 

None 

0.19 

Dextrin 

0.27 

0.68 

1.06 

0.91 

0.32 

None 

Soluble starch 

None 

1.37 

None 

1.74 

None 

2.80 

Normal starch 

30.94 

27.93 

34.04 

31.99 

42.50 

40.37 

Pentosans 

4.54 

4.16 

None 

None 

5.14 

3.54 

Crude fiber 

2.68 

2.70 

0.25 

0.17 

1.99 

2.22 

Total 

39.02 

36.96 

35.55 

35.34 

50.22 

49.28 


When the grains, or the flours made from them, are subjected to 
the action of yeast and heat, as in baking bread, an absolute loss 
of carbohydrates occurs, amounting to from one to five per cent 
of the total dry matter of the flour or grain. 

The combined action of moisture, yeast and heat in preparing 
and baking bread, diminishes the sugar and tends to convert the 
starch into soluble and fermentable forms. The actual amount of 
starch thus changed does not exceed ten per cent of the total starch 
present. This change occurs in the more exposed portions of the 
loaf. In the interior the starch undergoes practically no change. 
In other words, in the ordinary loaf of bread ninety per cent of 
the starch is in an unsoluble state. In toasting the bread some of 
the starch is dextrinized, but at the same time, the other ingre¬ 
dients, the protein and organic salts, are still further impaired. 
From all these facts it appears that cereals and starchy foods are 
by no means an ideal food for man, as is so often claimed. Cereals 
are useful to the extent that they provide carbohydrates in absence 
of sweet and dried fruits. 


CARBOHYDRATES 


77 


Nature never intended that we should eat products of the soil 
containing a large amount of raw starch, as our teeth are not suit¬ 
ably constructed for the perfect mastication of dry grain. As 
will be shown in one of the following chapters, man’s original home 
was in the tropical and subtropical zones which produce an abun¬ 
dance of fruits containing the carbohydrates in a soluble form and 
needing no further preparation. Persons with sound teeth and 
healthy digestive organs can undoubtedly eat raw cereals in reason¬ 
able amounts with impunity, but it is difficult to break down all the 
cell walls protecting the starch grains, even by prolonged mastica¬ 
tion. Only a small percentage of the starch is changed by the 
enzyme of the saliva; and while the inversion, if there is no hyper¬ 
acidity, may go on for some time in the stomach, it has to be com¬ 
pleted by the more powerful enzyme of the pancreatic juice. 

One of the advantages in cooking or baking potatoes and other 
starchy foods is the improvement in flavor, which is due in part to 
the development of the cooked-starch taste, which is more pleasant 
than that of raw starch. The degree of digestibility of the most 
used starches, beginning with the starch which is most easily di¬ 
gested, is as follows: potato, sweet potato, corn, rice, and wheat. 
Cereal products should preferably be eaten in a dry state to ensure 
perfect mastication. Mixtures of watery mushes and concentrated 
cane sugar should be avoided, as they are apt to cause fermenta¬ 
tions, because the presence of sugar interferes with the digestion of 
starch. 

Cellulose, which also belongs to the class of carbohydrates, is 
the basis of the cell structure of plants and exists in various forms. 
It is sometimes a hard and dense substance, but in the earlier stages 
of plant growth, as in tender leaves and vegetables, it is chemically 
combined with water in a more soluble and digestible form. Until 
quite recently cellulose was held to be indigestible, but experiments 
have proven that a large percentage may disappear in the diges¬ 
tive canal; and if the foods are thoroughly masticated, from 
twenty-five to fifty per cent are digested. While, on an average, 
cellulose may have but little food value, it is of great importance in 
acting as a mechanical stimulus to promote the peristaltic move¬ 
ment of the intestine. The diet of man must contain some bulk in 
the form of more or less woody fibres, as the muscular wall of the 


78 


RATIONAL DIET 


intestine, if it has no work to do, becomes atrophied like every 
other muscle. 

There is a tendency among the American people to remove as 
much as possible of the cellulose from food and to give a preference 
to artificially prepared and concentrated food products, a circum¬ 
stance which has led to an almost universal debility of the intes¬ 
tinal muscular walls, with resultant chronic constipation. For the 
same reason an exclusive milk diet will lead to costiveness, because 
animal foods and products contain no cellulose. The following 
table gives the amount of cellulose in a number of foods used by 
man: 


Food Products 

Per Cent 
Cellulose 

Food Products 

Per Cent 
Cellulose 

Rice flour 

0.2 

Peanuts 

2.2 

Wheat flour (fine) 

0.3 

Strawberries 

2.3 

Rice, polished 

0.6 

Maize 

2.5 

Cucumber 

0.6 

Whole wheat 

2.5 

Onion 

0.7 

Peas 

2.6 

Potato 

0.8 

Horseradish 

2.8 

Tomato 

0.8 

Lentils 

3.0 

Cauliflower 

0.9 

Filberts 

3.3 

Oatmeal 

1.0 

Beans 

3.6 

Asparagus 

1.0 

Grapes 

3.6 

Carrots 

1.0 

Rice, unpolished 

4.0 

Melon 

1.1 

Pears 

4.3 

String beans 

1.2 

Plums 

4.3 

Mushroom 

1.4 

Figs 

4.5 

Apple 

1.5 

Whole barley 

5.3 

Rye meal 

1.6 

Prunes 

5.4 

Radish 

1.6 

Dates 

5.5 

Barley, peeled 

1.6 

Walnuts 

6.2 

Cabbage 

1.8 

Almonds 

6.6 

Oranges, peeled 

1.8 

Raspberries 

6.7 

Green peas 

1.9 

Wheat bran 

8.7 

Rye 

2.0 

Rice bran 

10.6 


The pectins are jelly-like bodies, which are closely related to 
the carbohydrates and are contained in most fruits and vegetables. 
In the early stages of growth the pectins are combined with organic 
acids, forming insoluble compounds, but during the ripening of 
fruit and cooking of vegetables they are changed into soluble com¬ 
pounds, which in nutrition serve practically the same functions as 
starches and sugars. In food analyses the pectin bodies are usually 
included with the carbohydrates. 


CHAPTER IX 

Organic Acids 

Organic acids in foods should be distinguished from the acids of 
decomposition such as uric acid, etc. Organic acids are used by 
the living plants in their synthetic processes. In the ripening 
of fruit some of the acids are progressively utilized in the formation 
of ethers and carbohydrates. Others are combined to form salts 
of potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, etc. The combined 
organic acids or salts consumed in food are generally changed in 
the animal body into alkaline carbonates, thereby increasing the 
alkalinity of the blood and secretions. The uncombined acids either 
form alkaline carbonates, or are oxidized into carbon dioxide and 
water. 

There prevails an erroneous idea that fruit acids increase the 
acidity of the blood. Acid fruits often stir up digestive troubles 
with people whose blood is in an acid condition and who suffer 
from chronic inflammation of the stomach. In such cases a diet 
of fresh vegetables, preferably in salad form, is required, without 
salt and condiments, until normal conditions are restored. 

The fruit acids, like the carbohydrates, are composed of three 
elements—carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. A short description of 
the principal organic acids is herewith given. 

Acetic acid (C 2 II 4 0 2 ) is frequently found in organic form in 
many plants, combined with alcohol, and in ethers or essential oils. 
It forms salts with sodium, potassium, ammonium and other alka¬ 
line elements. These salts, or acetates, exist naturally in certain 
vegetable juices. In the animal body acetic acid and its salts are 
oxidized and changed into alkaline carbonates, in which form they 
are excreted by the urine. 

Free acetic acid, as found in vinegar, is distinctly injurious to 
health, even more so than alcohol. It rapidly breaks down the red 
corpuscles and causes anemic conditions. In the preparation of 
salads, lemon juice should be used instead of vinegar. 

Citric acid (C 6 H 8 0 7 ) is contained in many fruits, such as lem¬ 
ons, tomatoes, etc., or combined with alkaline salts, as citrates, in 


79 


80 


RATIONAL DIET 


all the citric fruits, quinces, currants, gooseberries, strawberries, 
raspberries, cranberries and many others. Citric acid is absorbed 
from the alimentary canal, and partly decomposed and excreted 
by the kidneys, as sodium carbonate. 

Malic acid (C 4 H 6 0 5 ) occurs in a free state in apples, pears, 
quinces, sour cherries, pineapples, grapes, currants, blackberries, 
etc., or in combination with alkaline bases, as malates, in sweet 
cherries, apples, rhubarb, gooseberries, grapes and strawberries. 
These fruits usually contain malic acid, besides a malate of potash, 
calcium and magnesium. Malic acid is combined with citric acid 
in unripe apples, grapes, pineapples, gooseberries, cherries, bilber¬ 
ries, strawberries, etc. Malic acid, or malates, are also found in 
potatoes, carrots and parsley. 

Lactic acid (C 3 H 6 0 3 ). This acid arises during the process of 
fermentation of milk sugar or lactose, as in the souring of milk, 
cheese making, and ripening of cream. Lactic acid is also found 
as a side product in the fermentation of various sugars, starches 
and other substances in the presence of protein. It is a thick, sour 
hygroscopic liquid which can be mixed easily with water or alcohol 
in any proportion. 

Tartaric acid (C 4 H 6 0 6 ) is one of the most common organic acids 
in the vegetable kingdom, especially in grapes and other fruits. 
During the final stages of fermentation of grape-must a consider¬ 
able quantity of cream tartar (KaC 4 H 4 0 6 ) is deposited. The 
gradual disappearance of organic acids as the fruit ripens, and the 
simultaneous increase of sugar and other carbohydrates indicate 
their transformation into sugars and starches. 

Gallic acid (C 7 H 6 0 5 ) is widely distributed in vegetables, espe¬ 
cially in the form of compounds known as “tannins.” It is found 
as such in the leaves of many plants, especially in the leaves of 
black and green tea. 

Tannin (C 14 H 0 O 0 ) is found in gall nuts, in all kinds of bark and 
the skins of fruits. It is colorless and readily soluble in water. 

Tannic acid (CH 2 0 2 ) is contained in small proportions in 
honey, where it acts as a preservative. It is also found in nettles. 
It is colorless, can be easily mixed with water or alcohol, and has 
a pungent odor resembling sulphurous acid. 

Oxalic acid (C 2 H 2 0 4 ) is widely distributed throughout the veg¬ 
etable kingdom, sometimes in the form of oxalate. Sorrel, spinach, 


ORGANIC ACIDS 


81 


rhubarb, cacao, black tea and pepper contain from two to four per 
mille in the fresh material. Contrary to popular opinion, tomatoes 
show a very small amount, less than .005 per mille. Their sour 
taste is due to the presence of citric acid. As oxalate of calcium 
it is found in lichens and in the leaves and roots of many plants. 

Oxalic acid, when taken in food, circulates through the animal 
tissues and fluids either as the free acid or as a salt, usually calcium 
salt. In the normal and healthy body it undergoes oxidation into 
carbon dioxide and water. If, on account of high acidity of the 
blood, the metabolism is faulty, a part of the oxalic acid may pass 
into the kidneys unchanged, giving rise to the formation of calcium 
oxalate stones in kidneys and bladder. 

As shown in the following table, the amount of oxalic acid in 
most of our common foods is very small: 

Amount of Oxalic Acid in 1000 parts of fresh substance, ac¬ 


cording to Esbach: 


Cocoa 

Per Mille 

3.52 to 4.50 

Raspberries 

Per Mille 

0.06 

Chocolate 

0.724 to 0.90 

Oranges 

0.03 

Infusion of tea, 5 min. 2.06 

Lemons 

0.03 

Pepper 

3.25 

Tomatoes 

0.002 to 0.050 

A. JL 

Coffee infusion 

0.13 

Asparagus 

0.028 to 0.044 

Sorrel 

2.74 to 3.63 

Brussels sprouts 

0.02 

Spinach 

1.91 to 3.17 

Endive 

0.02 

Rhubarb stems 

2.47 

Strawberries 

0.01 

String beans 

0.06 to 0.21 

Apples 

0.01 

White beans 

0.31 

Watercress 

traces 

Beet roots 

0.39 

Radishes 

4 4 

Wheat bread 

0.047 to 0.130 

Grapes 

C 4 

Potatoes 

0.05 

Pears 

4 4 

Buckwheat flour 

0.17 

Apricots 

4 4 

Cabbage 

0.31 

Peaches 

4 4 

Cucumber 

0.251 

Melons 

4 4 

Carrots 

0.030 

Flesh 

4 4 

Salsify 

0.070 

Cauliflower 

none 

Dried figs 

0.270 

Lettuce 

4 4 

Cherries 

0.025 

Milk 

4 4 

Currants 

0.13 

Rye 

4 4 

Prunes 

0.12 

Lentils 

< 4 

Chicory 

0.10 

Green peas 

4 4 

Plums 

0.07 

Red wine 

4 4 

The amount of oxalic acid in 

cocoa and black tea is especially 

high, and an over-indulgence in these drinks, combined with an acid- 

forming diet, will greatly favor the formation, or 

the deposit, of 


82 


RATIONAL DIET 


urates and oxalates in the kidneys and bladder. All conditions 
that favor the increase of uric acid in the body, such as a high pro¬ 
tein diet combined with demineralized foods, will also contribute to 
the formation of oxalates. 

In the accompanying table the amount of fruit acid in some of 
the best known fruits is given. As already stated, fruit acids are 
not free acids, but organic acids. In other words, they are integral 
parts of the cells, the same as organic salts. There are generally 
different kinds of acid found in one kind of fruit, but in the present 
table, the predominating acid is considered. In cranberries one 
of the acids is benzoic, amounting sometimes to as much as 0.05 
per cent. 

Sugars and Acids in Fruits 

Variety Fruit Sugar Per Cent Fruit Acid Per Cent Kind of Acid 


Apples, Rhode Island 


Greening 

11. 

0.70 

malic 

Apples, Wine Sap 

12. 

0.50 

a 

Apples, Northern Spy 12. 

0.70 

a 

Apricots, fresh 

10 to 13. 

1. 

a 

Apricots, dried 

50. 

2.50 

a 

Blackberries 

6 to 8; 

0.8 to 1. 

a 

Cherries 

10 to 16. 

0.90 

i t 

Cherimoya 

18.40 

0.06 

a 

Cranberries 

1.52 

2.30 

a 

Currants 

6 to 8. 

2.25 

a 

Gooseberries 

10 to 13. 

1. to 1.50 

a 

Grapes 

8 to 25. 

0.5 to 1. 

tartaric 

Grapefruit 

5 to 10. 

1. to 2. 

citric 

Huckleberries 

7. 

1. to 1.60 

malic 

Lemons 

1 to 2. 

5. to 6. 

citric 

Limes 

1 to 2. 

5. to 6. 

a 

Loquats 

10 to 12. 

1. 

malic 

Mangos 

13 to 14. 

0.3 to 0.50 

malic and tartaric 

Oranges 

5 to 12. 

1. to 1.50 

citric 

Papayas 

10. 

0.07 

malic 

Peaches 

8 to 10. 

0.5 to 0.90 

a 

Pears 

9 to 14. 

0.20 

n 

Pineapples 

9 to 12. 

0.60 

malic and citric 

Pomegranate 

16 to 17. 

0.6 to 1. 

mostly citric 

Plums 

14 to 16. 

0.75 

malic 

Prunes 

16 to 18. 

0.3 to 1. 

i i 

Quinces 

9. 

0.60 

a 

Raspberries 

6 to 8. 

1. to 1.50 

a 

Strawberries 

6 to 8. 

1. to 6. 

malic and citric 

Tamarinds 

30 to 32. 

6. to 12. 

citric and tartaric 

Tomatoes 

4. 

0.50 

mostly malic and 


citric 




CHAPTER X 


The Organized Mineral Elements or Organic Salts 
“The Missing Link in Dietetics” 


We have learned that of the eighteen elements composing the 
human body, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen are the chief 
constituents of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. We shall now 
consider the other so-called mineral elements and their relationship 
and importance in the organic world. They are: 

The acid binding basic or alkaline elements: 


Potassium (K) 

Sodium (Na) 

Calcium (Ca) 

Magnesium (Mg') 

Iron (Pej 

Manganese (Mn) 

Aluminum (Al) 

The acid forming elements: 

Phosphorus (P) 

Sulphur (S) 

Silicon (Si) 

Chlorine (Cl) 

Fluorine (FI) 

Iodine (I) 

Arsenic (As) 


The characteristics of each of these elements and their relation 
to each other in the living body, which is a most interesting and 
instructive study, giving the key to all dietetic reform, will be taken 
up in this and following chapters. 


A normal man weighing 150 pounds is composed of about: 


90 lbs. of oxygen 

36 lbs. of carbon 

14 lbs. of hydrogen 

3 lbs. 8 oz. of nitrogen 

3 lbs. 12 oz. of calcium 

1 lb. 4 oz. of phosphorus 

4 oz. of chlorine 


3 y 2 oz. 
3 oz. 
2 l / 2 oz. 
2 oz. 
i y 2 oz. 
oz. 

% OZ. 


of sulphur 
of potassium 
of sodium 
of fluorine 
of magnesium 
of silicon 
of iron 


Traces of manganese, iodine, aluminum and arsenic. 


83 


84 


RATIONAL DIET 


The chemical elements in the human body of the same weight, 
150 pounds, are found in the following organic combinations and 
approximate quantities. 


Water 

90 

lbs. 



Nitrogenous matter (protein, 





gelatin, etc.) 

30 

lbs. 



Fat (adipose tissue) 

22 

lbs. 



Phosphate of lime 

5 

lbs. 

12 

oz. 

Carbonate of lime 

1 

lb. 



Chloride of sodium 



6 

oz. 

Fluoride of calcium 



3 

oz. 

Sulphate of soda 



1% 

oz. 

Carbonate of soda 



1% 

oz. 

Phosphate of soda 



1 

oz. 

Sulphate of potash 



1 

oz. 

Peroxide of iron 



l A 

oz. 

Phosphate of potash 



% 

oz. 

Phosphate of magnesia 



% 

oz. 

Chloride of potassium 



traces 


Although the organic salts make up only a comparatively small 
amount of the body—about five per cent—they are nevertheless 
essential constituents, and every element has some distinct and 
necessary physiological function to perform. The normal and 
healthy development of the organism primarily depends upon an 
adequate supply of the organic salts, which are necessary in the 
life processes of plants and animals. 

The organic salts enter the system as fully oxidized compounds 
and, therefore, furnish practically no heat and energy. Neverthe¬ 
less, they hold the key to nearly all of the material manifestations 
of life. They are indispensable in the formation of cells and 
tissues, giving them firmness and form. They are the conveyors 
of vital electricity and magnetism, constantly recharging the human 
dynamo; they are the carriers of the life-giving oxygen to all parts 
of the body. 

They are the essential factors in digestion and assimilation, as 
ingredients of the digestive juices regulating the osmotic exchange 
between lymph and blood and cells. 

They are the scavengers of the body and the purifiers of the 
blood, neutralizing the waste products, uric acid, carbonic acid, 
etc., and assisting in removing them from the system. They are 
the real materia medica, which remove one of the fundamental 


ORGANIC SALTS 


85 


causes of disease, and restore the equilibrium of perfect health; 
they are nature’s real antitoxins, giving vital resistance to every cell 
and thus making the system invulnerable to all so-called “germs 
of disease”; they are the foundation upon which a new system of 
living and healing must be built, which utterly rejects all poison¬ 
ous drugs, vaccines and serums. 

This particular and important branch of food chemistry has not 
received heretofore the degree of attention which it deserves, and 
it may be aptly called “the missing link in dietetics.” It is a most 
significant fact that medical textbooks pay very little attention to 
the importance of mineral elements in the body. No system of cure 
can be complete and efficient which does not give paramount con¬ 
sideration to the mineral elements in food. The laws of life and 
growth are very closely interwoven with the characteristics of these 
elements. The problems of healthy and adequate nutrition cannot 
be solved satisfactorily without the most extensive and careful 
study of all the physiological functions of the organic salts, and 
their relation in the system to each other. 

So far the majority of investigations have been made from the 
standpoint of agricultural chemistry. The Englishman, Sir Hum¬ 
phrey Davy (1778-1823), who was the first scientist to recognize 
the mineral elements that are essential for the development of 
plants, says in his “Elements of Agricultural Chemistry” (Lon¬ 
don, 1814) : 

“The chemistry of the simpler manures (the manures which 
act in very small quantities, such as gypsum, alkalis, and various 
saline substances) has hitherto been exceedingly obscure. It has 
been generally supposed that these materials act in the vegetable 
economy in the same manner as condiments or stimulants in the 
animal economy, and that they render the common food more 
nutritive. It seems, however, a much more probable idea that they 
are actually a part of the true food of plants, and that they supply 
that kind of matter to the vegetable fiber which is analogous to 
the bony matter in animal structures.” 

In Germany it was principally Liebig (1803-1873) who in the 
middle of the nineteenth century made very important researches 
and demonstrated the absolute necessity of mineral salts in plants, 
and who ascribed certain diseases of plants to the deficiency of 
mineral matter in the soil. Fungi and animal parasites can develop 
only on protoplasm having a deficiency in certain mineral elements. 


86 


RATIONAL DIET 


Thus iron, sulphur and lime are injurious to microbes and insects, 
which cannot live and propagate on foliage and fruits rich in these 
elements. Yet farmers go on spraying and fumigating instead of 
investigating the condition of the soil and restoring it to its normal 
state. 

In a normally developed plant each element is present in a 
definite proportion. Perfect growth cannot be expected when any 
one of the mineral nutrients is supplied in insufficient quantity, no 
matter what amount of the other mineral elements may be available. 
The production of the organic matter of a plant of definite size 
depends, therefore, upon those mineral elements which are present 
in even relatively small amounts. For instance, when there is but 
a small amount of phosphoric acid present, only a corresponding 
amount of nucleo-proteids can be produced. Likewise, potassium 
is essential to organic synthesis, and if there is but little available, 
the plant will depend on this amount, irrespective of the quantity 
in which the other mineral nutrients are supplied. This fact, which 
means that the size of the harvest depends upon the mineral 
elements present in the least amount, is known as “Liebig’s Law 
of the Minimum.” Liebig derived this law from general princi¬ 
ples, without closely investigating the special function of each 
mineral constituent. Liebig’s work was taken up by Dr. Koenig 
and Dr. Wolff who made chemical analyses of a large number of 
human and animal food products, especially investigating their 
percentage of mineral elements. The tables contained in the last 
pages of the present volume are chiefly prepared from these 
sources. 

The early food chemists paid no particular attention to the 
physiological functions of the different elements in the animal and 
human organism. The German scientists, Dr. Hensel and Dr. 
Lahmann, first took up the careful study of this highly important 
subject. Hensel also devoted much time to agricultural chemistry 
and demonstrated by his tireless investigations which, unfortu¬ 
nately, are not yet fully understood and appreciated, how even the 
poorest soil can be wonderfully improved. He taught that the 
intelligent application of mineral fertilizers will bring forth the 
most wholesome, tasty products which do not readily deteriorate; 
that plants require for their healthy and vigorous growth the 
various mineral elements in their right proportion; that an over 


ORGANIC SALTS 


87 


supply of nitrogenous compounds (ammonia) and a deficiency 
of minerals, produces a vegetation which has no vital resistance, 
and thus makes it an easy prey to disease, just as poorly nourished 
men and animals do. 

Organic Versus Inorganic Salts 

While Hensel clearly pointed out the mistakes of agriculturists, 
he committed a grave error in recommending the mineral elements 
such as his “physiological earths” and “physiological salt water,” 
in their crude inorganic form as remedies for the human system. 
The same idea of administering inorganic salts as foods and reme¬ 
dies for men was also taken up by the homeopaths, first by Schues- 
sler, who modified their use by giving them in a highly triturated 
form. These preparations are generally known as “tissue salts” 
or “cell salts” of the biochemic school, and are now widely adver¬ 
tised as therapeutic agents. The claim is made that, while the 
inorganic salts in the crude form, as they appear in the soil or in 
the common mineral waters, are not utilized by the system, by 
subjecting these salts to a continuous process of trituration in which 
the molecules of the salt are finally diffused evenly throughout 
the triturating medium, they become capable of assimilation. The 
brochemists believe that by the process of trituration the properties 
are changed in some mysterious manner. No doubt the elements in 
their inorganic form may be absorbed by the lacteals and enter 
into circulation, and may even produce some chemical changes or 
reactions, but they cannot perform any vital functions, no matter 
how finely they are triturated. They lack that imponderable vital 
electricity and magnetism which is imparted to them in the organic 
combinations of the vegetable kingdom. 

Even the embryonic plant must feed on the organic compounds 
of the seed until its roots and leaves are grown. The elevation and 
characteristic change of inorganic into organic matter, which takes 
place principally in the green leaves of the plant, by means of the 
chlorophyll, is the starting point of all organic combinations. 
Chlorophyll is, therefore, a substance of great physiological im¬ 
portance in plant life. The general conditions upon which its 
formation depends are the electro-chemical effects of solar light, 
warmth and a certain amount of mineral matter, principally iron 
and lime salts. Plants which are normally green, become etiolated 


88 


RATIONAL DIET 


or pale, and consequently diseased, if any of these conditions 
are not supplied. Only by the presence of chlorophyll is the plant 
enabled to utilize the inorganic carbon molecule, and convert it 
with hydrogen and oxygen into the organic combinations of starch 
and sugar, and ultimately—with nitrogen and other mineral ele¬ 
ments from the soil—into higher organic combinations. The lower 
forms of plant life (like bacteria, fungi, and certain kinds of 
algae) have no chlorophyll and are therefore unable to feed on 
carbon dioxide. They are none the less plants, since they closely 
resemble the chlorophyll-bearing plants in details of form and 
structure, mode of growth and reproduction. Higher develop¬ 
ment in form and function, however, becomes possible only when 
the lower forms of life acquire the ability to assimilate iron and 
lime salts and to utilize the resulting combinations for the construc¬ 
tion of nucleo-proteids. 

We must, therefore, draw T a sharp line of demarcation between 
organic and inorganic salts, as well as between vitality and chemi¬ 
cal energy. Chemically the elements are always the same, whether 
they are found in the air, earth, plant or animal. It is only through 
the life-process of the plant that the constituents of air and soil 
become vitalized; and this property of vitality alone distinguishes, 
for instance, the atom of iron in the red blood corpuscles from 
that furnished in the form of inorganic “tissue-salts,” or other 
artificial preparations. That some elements exist in our body in 
such combinations as are found in the mineral kingdom, or as can 
be produced in the chemical laboratory, does not justify us in call¬ 
ing them “inorganic,” after they have become integral parts of 
the living organism. Still, in most of the medical and physiological 
textbooks, the mineral elements in foods and in the body are termed 
“inorganic salts”; and this misleading denomination has also 
given the public the erroneous idea that the term “salt” refers 
to the common salt, or chloride of sodium, which is considered an 
indispensable adjunct to almost all foods. There are some people 
who believe that common salt makes blood and bone, and for that 
reason add salt even to the milk which serves as an exclusive food 
for infants! 

The fact cannot be too frequently emphasized that there is a 
vital change going on in all the elements as they pass into the 
structure of the plant. On the other hand, chemical analysis or 


ORGANIC SALTS 


89 


separation of the elements means destruction of the living tissues; 
and, of course, the chemist will find in the elements of the “ash” 
the same properties that are found in the elements of the soil, but 
that subtle, imponderable force—vital electricity—has escaped. 
It cannot be isolated by the laboratory process of condensation or 
extraction. We must learn to recognize the mineral elements of 
the body as really ‘ ‘ organic, ’ ’ integral parts of the living body and 
subject to the same vital changes—life and death—as the entire 
organism. 

The phosphate of lime and the carbonate of lime of the skeleton, 
the iron contained in the red blood corpuscles, the phosphate of 
sodium, chloride of potassium, chloride of sodium, etc., found in 
the blood serum, are organized, and as such have a certain duration 
of life, during which they have vital functions to perform. Sooner 
or later the molecules will become fatigued or devitalized, accord¬ 
ing to the degree of their physiological activity, and they must be 
supplanted by fresh material. In other words, their biological 
existence is at an end when the vitality of the molecules imparted 
to them by the organism of the plant is used up, just as the death 
of the whole organism occurs when its vitality is depleted. Pro¬ 
teins present in the living body are combined with mineral ele¬ 
ments, whereby the proteins concerned acquire specific properties 
and functional signification in the organism. We can hope to 
understand the living state of the protoplasm only when the 
complex organic combinations are recognized, chemically and bio¬ 
logically, as very changeable bodies which the slightest influence 
will often disintegrate into the more stable compounds of dead or 
inorganic matter. The higher the forms of life and the more in¬ 
tense the vital activity of the elements in the organism, the more 
subtle and refined their organic combinations have to be, and the 
more they are subject to change and renewal. 

To illustrate: the comparatively stable molecules in the bones 
and teeth will last a longer time before they require replacement 
than the highly active atoms of iron, which are the oxygen carriers 
of the blood. The quantity of blood of a normal adult man of 160 
pounds is about twelve pounds (7% per cent of the body weight) 
and contains approximately fifty grains of iron. With every 
pulse beat nearly six ounces of blood are forced from the heart 
into the aorta, and, during every half minute, the entire quantity 


90 


RATIONAL DIET 


of blood passes from the heart into the lungs and from there into 
the arteries and capillaries through the body. Consequently, the 
fifty grains of iron pass through the heart and lungs 120 times an 
hour and 2880 times a day. Within twenty-four hours, under 
normal conditions, the fifty grains of iron have to expend the same 
effort or vital action as 2880 x 50 grains or more than 20 pounds. 
The iron of the blood is a constituent of the hemoglobin, a protein 
compound making up the red blood corpuscles. The hemoglobin 
molecule is of enormous size, chemically considered, and iron makes 
up only the three-hundredth part of it by weight. Iron has the 
highest specific weight of all the elements entering the animal 
organism, being nearly eight times heavier than water. Therefore, 
nature had to construct such a large and highly complex organic 
molecule, in which iron occupies a small part, so that it could 
easily float along with the blood-current. To graphically illustrate 
this, the chemical analysis of the hemoglobin from horse blood, 
according to a German scientist, is represented by the formula: 
C 7 i 2 H 1130 N 214 O 245 FeS 2 , showing more than 2000 atoms in one mole¬ 
cule. In natural foods iron is found solely in the form of com¬ 
plicated organic compounds which have been built by the life 
processes of plants. From these compounds hemoglobin is pro¬ 
duced in the animal organism, which is not able to construct the 
highly complex organic molecule from inorganic substances. 

Experiments have shown that animals slowly starved if they 
were fed only on a mixture of protein, carbohydrates and fat, all 
the mineral elements of milk chemically separated, but exactly 
in the same proportions found in whole milk; while animals which 
were fed exclusively on natural milk remained in good health. 
This is a most significant fact. Young animals can live on fresh 
milk alone. But if w r e put together artificially the constituents of 
the milk, which, according to the teachings of present-day physi¬ 
ology, are necessary for the sustenance of life, the animals die 
rapidly. The milk is an organic whole, in which the tissue salts 
are chemically associated with the organic substances, and only in 
this form are they able to sustain vital force. The absolute ne¬ 
cessity for electric and magnetic vitality in all of the atoms and 
molecules of food does away forever with the fanciful idea of 
some dreamers that some day we may be able to prepare artificial 
and concentrated foods in the chemical laboratory. Nature knows 


ORGANIC SALTS 


91 


her business infinitely better than the expert chemists, and all at¬ 
tempts to imitate her intricate work will be failures from the very 
beginning. 

The question of the absorption and utilization of different forms 
of iron in particular, was thoroughly investigated by Abderhalden, 
a German scientist, in an extended series of experiments upon 
several species of animals. He found that the animals fed with 
food poor in iron, plus an addition of inorganic iron, were unable 
in the long run to produce as much hemoglobin as those receiving 
normal food. While inorganic iron may be absorbed, it is not 
utilized in the formation of hemoglobin, but remains unused in 
the tissues. The same fact was found to be true clinically, and indi¬ 
cates that any apparent benefit is due to stimulation without the 
iron actually forming hemoglobin. Abderhalden also came to the 
conclusion that hemoglobin is derived essentially from the organic 
iron compounds of the food, while inorganic iron acts mainly, if not 
entirely, as a stimulant. 

Chloride of sodium, or common salt, is another inorganic sub- . 
stance which has caused much confusion in the minds of people in 
regard to its necessity as an adjunct to our food. We constantly 
meet such statements as these: c £ It is the only substance which we 
take into our bodies directly from the mineral elements; and the 
desire for salt is instinctive with nearly all animals”; or “Com¬ 
mon salt is one of the most essential of the mineral constituents 
of the body. When sodium chloride is entirely withheld from an 
animal, death from salt starvation ensues.” Both of these asser¬ 
tions, and many similar ones, are almost diametrically opposed to 
the truth. Why should chloride of sodium be an exception to the 
other elements? Because an article has been largely used as an 
article of diet perhaps for thousands of years, does not entitle us, 
without unbiased investigation, to consider it wholesome. The 
salt-eating habit may be acquired as any other unhygienic habit, 
and, if we choose our food rightly, there is absolutely no necessity 
for it. The advocates of salt point to the animals who often go 
for miles to so-called “salt licks,” but that fact does not by any 
means demonstrate that salt serves as food or performs some vital 
functions in the organism. This craving for salt is in most in¬ 
stances caused by feeding the cattle on herbage grown on soils poor 
in mineral elements, especially sodium, as on mountain slopes 


92 


RATIONAL DIET 


where rains have carried away the most soluble parts of the soil 
and deposited them in the valleys. 

It has also been observed that herbivorous animals after the 
winter months, when they have subsisted mostly on barks and 
twigs of trees, become constipated and look scrawny for the lack 
of the alkaline elements which are supplied in the various grasses 
in spring and summer. When the ground is heavily covered with 
snow, often for months, they cannot obtain the needful organic 
salts and vitamins in sufficient quantities, but as soon as there is a 
plentiful supply of herbs and greens, they very seldom go to salt¬ 
licks, which, by the way, contain very little sodium chloride and 
are mostly composed of other minerals. 

Extensive experiments made in Germany with the horses of ten 
squadrons of cavalry and two batteries of artillery, during two 
years, showed that the animals, if they had their choice, preferred 
the unsalted fodder. If half an ounce of salt was added to their 
daily rations, they ate them without difficulty, but if an ounce was 
given, they showed apparent disgust. In every instance the use 
of salt was rather injurious than beneficial and did not increase 
the strength of the animals. With cows, a very small amount of 
salt increases the quantity of milk, but deteriorates the quality. 
Larger portions are decidedly detrimental, as the salt has a highly 
irritating influence upon all the tissues it comes in contact with. 
Professor Bunge assumes that the over-supply of potassium in some 
of the vegetable foods is the cause of desire for salt in the herbiv¬ 
orous animals. If a salt of potassium, such as potassium carbo¬ 
nate, meets with chloride of sodium in solution, a partial exchange 
takes place and chloride of potassium and carbonate of sodium are 
formed. This chloride of sodium is practically withdrawn from 
the organism and this loss seems to cause a craving for salt. Bunge 
further says that a man living chiefly on potatoes, for instance, 
takes in nearly one ounce and a half of potash salts a day. Cereals 
and pulses, generally used as staple articles of food, are likewise 
rich in potassium and poor in sodium. Man was never intended 
to be a potato or cereal eater, and the statements of Bunge only 
prove how urgently people need enlightenment in regard to their 
dietary habits. A combination of potatoes, cereals and pulses, 
with or -without meat, is detrimental, since it is acid-forming. These 
foods, which at present make up the larger part of man’s diet, 


ORGANIC SALTS 


93 


are, as a rule, not sufficiently supplemented by non-starchy veg¬ 
etables, especially salad plants supplying sodium and the other 
alkaline elements. Furthermore, most of the vegetables are pre¬ 
pared so irrationally that their hygienic value is almost entirely 
lost. Salad is prepared with vinegar (which is worse than alcohol) 
and condiments; and the vegetables are boiled in water which is 
thrown away, together with the easily soluble salts, making them, 
of course, insipid and valueless. The consequence is that common 
salt is used in an attempt to restore the organic salts lost in the 
water. Thus the very purpose which the vegetables should serve, 
is frustrated by their irrational preparation. We should, there¬ 
fore, always prefer those vegetables which we can enjoy in their 
natural and uncooked state. Those who will not dispense with 
table salt entirely should at least reduce its consumption to a 
minimum, not exceeding twenty-five grains daily, which is as 
much as will go on the point of a knife. Yet there are people who 
consume an ounce and even more per day, especially if they par¬ 
take freely of salt butter, cheese, ham, etc. The following tabic 
gives the amounts of table salt in some commonly used foods: 


Bread, average 

25 

to 

30 grains 

per pound 

Salt butter 

A to 

1 

< < 

C ( 

Swiss cheese 

'A to 

y 2 “ 

( c 

1 < 

Smoked sausage 

y 2 to 

% “ 

(< 

i c 

Ham 

1/2 to 

% “ 

< ( 

l < 

Caviar 

% to 

1 

( £ 

(( 

Salt beef 

1 

to 

iy 2 

C ( 

(( 

Salt pork 

11/2 to 

1 % “ 

i l 

i ( 

Salt herring 

11/2 to 

2 “ 

t l 

e < 

Cod liver oil 

2 y 2 to 

3 

( ( 

(< 


Further attention must be called to the scientifically proved 
fact, that all foods which are kept in salt-water or brine, exchange 
some of the organic salts for the common salt by osmosis. Thus 
the valuable constituents are thrown away with the brine. Al¬ 
though the living cells of the body will protect themselves for some 
time against such mineral poisons, they will gradually lose their 
power of resistance. Salt is a strong diureter, subtracting from 
blood and lymph the necessary water for its excretion by the kid¬ 
neys, a circumstance which causes abnormal thirst which is gen¬ 
erally satisfied by stimulants and alcoholic beverages. All that may 
be claimed for salt is that it gives some palatability to emasculated 


94 


RATIONAL DIET 


food, while the quality is in no way improved. But why deprive 
the foods of their natural organic salts and then add the inorganic 
table salt? 

The old dietary standards with their larger amount of protein, 
and the fallacious estimation of food-values by the amount of cal¬ 
ories, with entire disregard to the organic salts, have led to an 
over-consumption of meat, pulses and cereals, while the hygienic 
value of fresh fruits and vegetables is very much underestimated. 

These conditions are well illustrated by the fact, that of the 
total amount expended for food, the American people spend about 
forty per cent for meat, about twenty per cent for dairy products, 
about twenty per cent for demineralized cereals and refined sugar, 
and only eleven per cent for fruits and vegetables. In other words, 
only eleven cents of each dollar spent for food goes towards the 
purchase of nature’s most wholesome products. In fact, Americans 
spend five times more money for refined sugar, artificial concoc¬ 
tions and manufactured sweets than for fruits. Their annual 
expenditure for these items follows: 


So-called soft drinks (mostly made with 
cane sugar syrup, artificial flavor and 
colors) 

Ice cream 
Cakes and candies 
Chewing gum 

Refined sugar, molasses, etc. 


$ 350,000,000 
250,000,000 
350,000,000 
50,000,000 
500,000,000 


Total, per year $1,500,000,000 

For fruits per year, only 300,000,000 

In other words, the annual per capita consumption of fruits is 
less than $3.00 while that for artificial sweets in various forms is 
$15.00. Americans are fast becoming the best fed, but most poorly 
nourished nation on earth, from the lack of the needful organic 
salts in their daily food supply. The result is a rapid increase of 
nutritional diseases in spite of an army of over 100,000 physicians, 
who are only too prone to recommend surgical operations instead 
of a radical change in the patient’s dietetic habits. The nutritive 
value of fresh fruits and vegetables is still very much under¬ 
estimated by physicians and laymen alike, because foods are still 
judged by the amount of protein and calories they contain, instead 
of by the organic salts and vitamins. 



ORGANIC SALTS 


95 


The tables of analyses in the appendix show the proportion 
of mineral elements entering into the composition of the human 
body and most of the generally used food materials. We see at a 
glance that there is a great variation in the quantity and propor¬ 
tion of the different elements. The green-leaf vegetables have the 
highest amount of organic salts, especially sodium, iron and chlo¬ 
rine, which are very essential for the formation of normal and 
healthy blood. On the other hand, the milling products, like white 
flour, corn flour, and polished rice, which are paraded as “the staff 
of life,” are poorest in the total amount of minerals, as well as in 
the amount of essential blood salts. The cereals are deprived, on 
an average, of seventy-five per cent of their mineral elements 
through the modern milling processes which, as experiments show, 
make them practically starvation foods. Meat ranks above the 
cereals in the total amount of salts. We must take into considera¬ 
tion, however, that the molecules in flesh foods have already lost a 
part of their vital electricity and magnetism by performing the 
life-processes in the animal body. In the organism of the plant 
these processes are chiefly constructive in storing up the vital 
forces in their organic combinations. Furthermore, we should con¬ 
sider that high degrees of heat, as employed in cooking, baking and 
frying, also produce certain biological changes in foods, and some 
of the mineral elements are separated from their organic combina¬ 
tions and reduced to the inorganic state. 

In the Agricultural College of Greifswald (Germany) a number 
of interesting experiments were made to determine the difference 
between raw and boiled milk in the nutrition of the animal body. 
A litter of eight pups were divided into two groups, A and B, of 
which the one group was fed on raw milk, the other on boiled milk. 
During the course of the experiment, which lasted three months, 
no other food was given. The animals were weighed weekly, with 
the following results: 

The first week the dogs of group A (raw milk) increased in 
weight more rapidly than those of group B (boiled milk). With 
the beginning of the second week the conditions were reversed, 
due to the accumulation of fat in the tissues of group B. A care¬ 
ful analysis of the blood showed that the contents of fibrin, al¬ 
bumin, organic salts, and consequently the specific weight of the 
blood, were much lower in group B than in group A. The tissues 


96 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the bones of the former were far less firm than those of the 

* 

latter group. The marrow of the bones of group B was decidedly 
anemic, the bones could be easily detached, while at the same time 
they showed a marked deficiency in mineral matter, such as potas¬ 
sium phosphate, calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, etc. 

In boiling milk, the change which takes place is due to the 
coagulation of the globulin, or protein molecule, which splits away 
from the mineral molecules, and renders the combinations of 
iron and fluorine and the phosphate molecules unassimilable. Sim¬ 
ilar changes take place to a greater or lesser extent in the arti¬ 
ficial preparation of all foods, whenever a degree of heat is applied 
that causes the coagulation or breaking up of protein molecule in 
which the subtle, imponderable vital forces are destroyed. Cooked 
foods, to be sure, can sustain life, but in the long run they cause 
a degeneration of the tissues and a lessened vitality and power of 
resistance. The dietetic and hygienic value of natural uncooked 
foods, therefore, becomes apparent. 

By living during many generations largely on cooked foods, 
the organs of digestion and assimilation of the majority of people 
have been weakened to such a degree that they cannot properly 
digest uncooked foods, which require strong and powerful digestive 
juices. But the system will gradually adapt itself to natural foods 
again, if they are prepared judiciously and given in the right com¬ 
binations. In fact, the organism responds quickly to the medici¬ 
nal qualities of fresh fruits and green-leaf vegetables, which should 
be our only materia medica for restoring the normal physiological 
functions of the human body and for the increase of its powers 
of resistance. 


CHAPTER XI 


Variation of the Percentage of Mineral Elements and 
Their Polaric Distribution in Poods 


In studying tables of food analyses one important fact is gen¬ 
erally overlooked, viz., the wide variation in the chemical com¬ 
position of the mineral matter in food products of the same kind, 
which is shown in table in the appendix. Thus we see, for in¬ 
stance, in cow’s milk a variation of the total mineral matter from 
0.35 per cent to 1.21 per cent; in grapes from 0.36 to 0.70 per cent; 
in potatoes from 0.42 to 1.46 per cent; in peas from 1.76 to 3.49 
per cent, while soda, lime and iron vary as follows: 


SODA: LIME: 

(Per Cent of Total Mineral Matter) 


In milk from 8.60 to 11.18 

In grapes from 0.29 to 10.54 
In potatoes from none to 16.93 
In peas from none to 3.54 


17.31 to 27.55 
1.70 to 22.60 
0.51 to 6.23 
2.31 to 7.90 


IRON: 


0.33 to 0.76 
0.05 to 1.68 
0.04 to 7.18 
none to 3.83 


Again, according to Watts and other chemists, oxide of iron 
shows the following variations in different cereals: 

Percentage of iron in total amount of mineral matter: 


In oats from 
In wheat from 
In rye from 
In barley from 
In millet from 
In rice from 
In corn from 


0.1 to 5.1 
trace to 3.3 
none to 2.2 
0.1 to 2.1 
trace to 1.8 
none to 1.4 
0.5 to 0.8 


Similar variations could very likely be detected in all food 
products grown in different soils. Such changes may go on slowly 
and imperceptibly; but in the course of years the soil may dete¬ 
riorate to such a degree that its products become of an inferior 
quality, especially deficient in the essential organic salts. Men and 
animals subsisting on such abnormal foods will eventually show 
various signs of degeneration which reveal themselves in defective 
development of bones and tissues and in the lack of vital resistance 
or vital electricity. We must begin to look for the origin of so- 


97 


98 


RATIONAL DIET 


called contagious diseases—consumption, cholera, cancer, smallpox, 
etc., which are decimating the human race—in the devitalized cells 
and tissues of the organism, chiefly caused by faulty and perverted 
nutrition, and foods raised on impoverished soils, and not by germs 
and bacilli. We must learn to combat these diseases not by serums, 
vaccines and anti-toxins, but by reforming our dietetic and hygienic 
habits in accordance with nature’s inexorable laws, and by intelli¬ 
gently improving the soil, and with it, the quality of our foods. 
As long as farmers continue to fumigate and spray deteriorated 
vegetation, instead of seeking for the cause of such deterioration; 
as long as doctors, being unable to distinguish between cause and 
effect, inject vaccine and serums into degenerated tissues, just so 
long will disease decimate mankind, notwithstanding the much- 
lauded progress of science. 

The average college-bred physician accepts the established 
dietary standards as something axiomatic and not to be ques¬ 
tioned. He is not aware of the relation which food bears to health 
and disease and, therefore, loses the advantage of an important 
therapeutic agent. We have a number of pathological conditions 
which, according to the teaching hitherto prevalent, are regarded 
erroneously as totally heterogeneous and disconnected. This mis¬ 
understanding has produced innumerable “specialists,” each one 
treating a particular organ or symptom, without considering the 
body as an organic whole. A perfect understanding of the char¬ 
acteristics of each of the eighteen elements which make up the 
human body, of their relation to each other, of their functions in 
nutrition, growth and elimination in the living organism, will 
go far toward establishing a correct method of diagnosing diseased 
conditions, thus simplifying pathology and therapeutics. While 
the investigations which have been made in this respect are com¬ 
paratively few, yet they are sufficient to establish an intelligent 
view of the prevention of all disease. They will ultimately in¬ 
augurate a rational and liberating system of living on a new 
and solid foundation of physiological and biological facts. 

Polaeic Distribution op the Elements 

The early agricultural chemists had already found that in 
plants as well as animals and man, the mineral elements are not 
equally distributed, but that certain elements predominate in 


VARIATION OF MINERAL CONTENTS 


99 


certain parts of the organism. Thus potassium, sodium, calcium, 
iron and sulphur generally pass into the stems, leaves and fruits 
of the plants, while potassium phosphorus and magnesium are the 
principal mineral constituents of the seeds and roots. This fact 
becomes apparent by a careful study of the tables of analyses con¬ 
tained in this book. The tendency of certain elements to accumu¬ 
late in certain parts of the plants may be compared with the polaric 
distribution of the earth’s magnetism which is strongest at its poles. 
This is probably due to the polaric accumulation of iron which is 
the principal source of magnetic power on our planet. Just as 
magnetic iron attracts the non-magnetic metal, so the mineral 
elements in the living organism of the plant, charged as they are 
with vital electricity and magnetism by the great central station 
of the sun, attract similar non-magnetic elements as well as carbon 
dioxide and ammonia. The latter, combined with water, form the 
carbohydrates, proteids and nucleo-proteids. We may always 
recognize in plants distinct parts or poles, characterized by the 
particular mineral elements which they attract and accumulate, 
viz.: the leaves, blades, stems and juicy fruits on one hand, and 
on the other, the seeds (grains, nuts, seeds, contained in fruits) 
which serve for the reproduction of the species. The polaric dis¬ 
tribution can also be noticed to a certain extent in the seeds them¬ 
selves. Here we find in the outer layer of the kernels an accumu¬ 
lation of calcium, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, fluorine and silica, 
while potassium and phosphorus predominate in the inner parts. 
Even in the cells a characteristic division of the elements in the 
cell walls from the interior parts can be detected. 

In the human and animal bodies nature works according to 
the same principle. Here we find the principal anatomical parts— 
the muscular tissues, the cartilage, the skeleton, the blood, the 
organs, etc.—likewise characterized by the polaric accumulation 
of certain mineral elements. The muscular tissues or meat, being 
rich in potassium and phosphorus, resemble in their chemical com¬ 
position the seeds, while the skeleton, blood and skin, with their 
large amount of calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron, silicon, chlorine 
and fluorine, may be compared with the stems, leaves and juicy 
fruits. Although sodium, chlorine, and iron predominate in the 
blood, the latter must necessarily carry a certain quantity of all 
the elements entering into the composition of the human body, be- 


100 


RATIONAL DIET 


cause it is blood which carries them to the different parts and 
organs, nourishing and. cleansing the tissues and creating heat, 
vital electricity and magnetism. If all the blood vessels are filled 
with oxygenated, nerve-vivifying blood, containing the due amount 
of organic salts, this must be of advantage to every part of the 
body. Under such conditions liver, spleen, stomach, pancreas and 
intestines, as well as lungs, kidneys and skin, harmoniously work 
together, supporting and complementing each other. Again, in 
the cells making up the various organs there predominate certain 
mineral bases and salts which determine their vital functions, at¬ 
tracting by means of their electro-magnetic properties similar 
atomic groups, and eliminating the worn-out material, thus con¬ 
trolling the processes of absorption, assimilation and excretion. It 
is also interesting to note in this connection the role played by the 
elements in the struggle for existence which led to the evolution 
of the different species of the plant and animal world. The quan¬ 
tity and proportion of the mineral elements in the food shaped 
the various kinds of protoplasmic cells, which served as bases for the 
size and form, growth and propagation of the numerous species of 
the organic kingdoms. An insufficiency or plentiful supply of 
one or more elements will always greatly modify the character of 
the vegetable and animal organism affected. In other words, the 
protoplasmic cells in each species depend for the continuation of 
their vitality on certain well-defined food materials. To illustrate: 
the silkworn lives exclusively on mulberry leaves, while beech-tree 
leaves would be poison to it, because the latter contain lime, mag¬ 
nesia and sulphur, elements which in large amounts are injurious 
to worms; and mulberry leaves contain considerably less of these 
elements. 

The gigantic saurians that lived during the carboniferous 
age, millions of years ago, and whose fossils and bones we now find 
in the strata of limestone, composing the earth’s crust, could only 
attain such enormous proportions by developing a large and bony 
skeleton. This in turn could be built only by feeding on the won¬ 
derfully luxuriant vegetation of that period, produced by a moist, 
tropical climate and a soil rich in calcium, magnesium, sodium and 
iron. In the course of time, floods, volcanic eruptions and earth¬ 
quakes greatly changed the topographical and meteorological con¬ 
ditions of our planet, and these animals gradually became extinct. 


VARIATION OF MINERAL CONTENTS 


101 


The vegetation assumed a different character according to climate 
and soil, and could no longer abundantly supply the material for 
the formation of such enormous frames as supported their bodies. 
The remains of these antediluvian monsters, from which their 
imagined appearance has been reconstructed, ought to teach us 
that it is the skeleton, that part of the body richest in mineral 
elements, which gives animals and men their characteristic form, 
strength and power of resistance. When we further consider that 
calcium make up more than one-half of the entire mineral matter 
in the animal and human bodies, the important part of this ele¬ 
ment in the growth and development of the organism becomes still 
more apparent. 

The chemical composition of the bones varies according to the 
size and age of the animal. They contain on an average 

5 to 50 per cent of water 

15 to 50 per cent of cartilage (a gelatinous substance) 

5 to 20 per cent of fat 

20 to 70 per cent of mineral matter, chiefly composed of 

phosphate of lime with some carbonate of lime, phosphate 

of magnesia and small quanties of other elements. 

The ribs, for instance, are composed of about 

34 per cent of cartilage 
57 per cent of phosphate of calcium 
4 per cent of carbonate of calcium 

2 per cent of phosphate of magnesium 

3 per cent of other elements 

While the cartilage consists of 
67.67 per cent of water 

30.13 per cent of mostly gelatinous substance 
1.20 per cent of organic salts 

The organic salts of cartilage are made up of 

26.66 per cent of sulphate of potash 
44.80 per cent of sulphate of sodium 
6.10 per cent of chloride of sodium 
8.40 per cent of phosphate of sodium 
7.88 per cent of phosphate of calcium 
4.55 per cent of phosphate of magnesium 

Cartilage contains more sodium than any other tissue in our 
bodies. The gelatin, which can be cooked from the bones, is a ni¬ 
trogenous substance. While it has some cohesive force, it readily 


102 


RATIONAL DIET 


decomposes if dissolved in water and exposed to light and air, and 
for that reason it should never be used as human food. The skele¬ 
ton, on the other hand, chiefly composed of mineral matter, may last 
thousands of years, until it slowly decays by the action of moisture 
and atmosphere. All parts of our body which are rich in cartilage 
need a constant renewal of their component mineral elements for 
protection against decomposition. Foods too rich in carbonaceous 
and nitrogenous substances and deficient in minerals, which are so 
universally consumed today, lower vital resistance and give rise to 
all kinds of diseased and degenerate conditions. It is only when 
the necessary organic salts are combined with other organic sub¬ 
stances (protein, etc.) that the latter are rendered suitable for 
healthy and adequate nutrition. The mineral elements give firm¬ 
ness to the tissues and at the same time create that subtle, vital 
electricity and magnetism which are the sources of our resisting 
power against injurious influences. Perfect health can only he 
maintained when the vital force is stronger than the disintegrating 
effect of foreign substances and micro-organisms which pass into 
our system by means of air, water and food. It is, furthermore, 
the presence of the alkaline minerals in normal quantities and pro¬ 
portions which protects the organism from constantly forming 
poisonous waste products, by neutralizing them and removing them 
promptly from the system. As long as these facts are not recog¬ 
nized by the medical profession, it will continue to grope in error, 
hunting for “germs of disease,” “discovering” antitoxins and 
serums, vivisecting, quarantining and disinfecting, cutting out 
organs, inventing “elixirs of life,” compounding paralyzing drugs, 
and deriving its “knowledge” from the test tubes of the laboratory 
instead of directly from nature—the eternal source of all life, and 
the fountain of truth and wisdom. How true are Goethe’s words 
in his immortal “Faust”: 

“Nature retains her veil, despite our clamors: 

That which she doth not willingly display 

Cannot be wrenched from her with levers, screws 
and hammers.” 

Agriculture suffers frequently from errors similar to modern 
medicine. Because the seeds of plants contain a considerable quan¬ 
tity of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, these substances 
were considered the most essential plant-foods. A system of ferti¬ 
lizing was established on this theory, disregarding the fact that 


VARIATION OF MINERAL CONTENTS 


103 


the entire plant during the processes of growth requires quite dif¬ 
ferent proportions of elements from those which may be derived 
from the seeds alone. Nitrogenous fertilizers are used extensively, 
and, apparently, they produce plants of luxuriant growth, bring¬ 
ing forth fruits of large size and attractive to the eye, but of 
inferior quality and little durability. It is the proper quantity 
and proportion of all the mineral elements which give the fruits 
and vegetables their intrinsic food value, and not their content of 
nitrogen, ammoniacal compounds and water. The usual manures 
supply plants with too much forcing material, artificially stimulat¬ 
ing growth, and producing a vegetation which lacks the material 
firmness and the power of vital resistance, and, therefore, is sub¬ 
ject to the attacks of fungi, parasites and all kinds of plant diseases. 

No normal body substance can be formed by foods grown on 
soil in which some of the essential elements are deficient. The 
milk obtained from animals feeding on impoverished vegetation is 
naturally of inferior quality, no matter how carefully handled and 
pasteurized. The large mortality of infants must be largely traced 
to milk produced by animals feeding on vegetation grown upon 
impoverished soils, aside from the fact that cow’s milk is not a 
natural food for human beings. 

There is nothing needed more in agriculture and in the science 
of nutrition than a clear and correct understanding of the polaric 
distribution, relationship and functions of the elements which 
build the organic world. It is only such knowledge that will help 
us to deal intelligently with the problems of health and disease, 
and dissipate the old superstitions which still hold their sway. 

The mineral elements entering into the composition of the 
human body, with the exception of sulphur and iron, are not found 
in nature in the uncombined or elementary state. Taken as such 
they would be more or less injurious and even poisonous to tfie 
system, on account of their great affinity for oxygen and other 
elements, which would rapidly disintegrate all organized matter. 
It is only in their various chemical combinations with other sub¬ 
stances that the elements become so modified that they can serve 
as foods for plants, which, in turn, transform them into still higher 
forms of organic combinations, enabling them to perform various 
complex vital functions in the animal and human organism. 

It should be emphasized that the generation of vital electricity 


104 


RATIONAL DIET 


and magnetism, on which the function of the brain and nervous 
system depends, is the primary function of all food-substances, 
while the production of heat is of secondary importance. For that 
reason, the determination of food values by calories is misleading. 
Chemically pure albumen, refined sugar and starch, substances 
giving about 1750 calories per pound, cannot maintain life. In 
fact, they would exhaust the vital forces sooner than the total 
abstinence from all food, because they are deprived of the organic 
salts, which are necessary for the generation of vital electricity, 
and for the reduction and elimination of waste matter. 

Another point to be mentioned here is that blood rich in alka¬ 
line salts makes the digestive juices stronger and more effective, 
abstracting, therefore, more nutriment from a certain quantity of 
food than when the blood is in an acid condition, which is apt to 
impair the action of the digestive juices. 

Equally important is the proportion of organic salts contained 
in food for healthy and adequate nutrition. A dietary may con¬ 
tain the necessary amount of calories, but the organic salts may be 
present in deficient quantities or wrong proportions. Mother’s 
milk which is the natural food for the growing infant, indicates 
approximately the right proportions of the different organic salts 
which should constitute our food-supply. It contains: 

33.80 per cent Potash 
9.10 per cent Soda 

16.70 per cent Lime 
2.20 per cent Magnesia 
0.22 per cent Oxide of iron 

22.70 per cent Phosphoric acid 
0.95 per cent Sulphur 

0.02 per cent Silica 

14.30 per cent Chlorine 

Traces of Fluorine 

It should be noted, however, that the growing organism needs 
more phosphate of potash and lime for the formation of bone and 
tissues than does the adult who needs more of soda, iron, sulphur 
and silica. Under normal conditions nature has stored a supply 
of iron in the liver and spleen of the newborn, seemingly to pro¬ 
tect the body against possible deficiency of this important element 
which may occur in the food supply. 


VARIATION OF MINERAL CONTENTS 


105 


The foods which constitute the larger part of the average diet¬ 
ary, meat, cereals, and pulses, are too rich in phosphate of potash 
and deficient in iron, lime, soda, magnesia, sulphur, silica, and 
fluorine, a circumstance which is productive of many diseases, 
whose origin was hitherto obscure and falsely attributed to exter¬ 
nal causes, such as bacilli, germs or inclemency of the weather. 


CHAPTER XII 

The Acid-Binding Elements 

The acid-binding, or alkaline elements, necessary for the growth 
of the human body, and the performance of its physiological func¬ 
tions, are potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese 
and aluminum. 

Potassium (K) exists in inorganic nature in the form of chlo¬ 
ride and sulphate of potassium in sea-water, or as deposits of 
rocksalt in the earth’s surface; it is also found as silicate of potas¬ 
sium in feldspar and glimmer. This element never occurs in the 
free state, but can be obtained by electrolysis from chloride of 
potassium, when it appears as a brilliant white mineral, soft as 
wax, somewhat lighter than water, with a melting point of 145° F. 
It rapidly oxidizes if exposed to the air, but may be kept intact in 
coal-oil. If thrown on water it rapidly decomposes, the latter form¬ 
ing hydroxid of potassium (KOH), whereby such a degree of heat 
is generated that the liberated hydrogen burns with a blue flame, as 
it arises from the liquid, presenting the peculiar spectacle of seem¬ 
ingly burning water. The salts of potassium (potash) are found 
in large proportions in all plants. They are essential to the pro¬ 
duction of starchy fiber and the growth of grain and fruits. 
Without potassium there cannot be full development of plant or 
seed. Other things being equal, an increase of potash will increase 
to a certain degree the percentage of carbohydrates. Furthermore, 
potash is found to be present in larger proportions in those parts 
in which the carbohydrates are formed, as in all the connective 
tissues. As already mentioned, seeds always contain much more 
potassium phosphate than sodium phosphate, while on the other 
hand the proportion of soda to potash is found to be larger in the 
leaves and in a number of roots. 

Potassium, if present in proper proportions, is a protection 
against parasites, fungi, insects, worms, etc. In places where in¬ 
sect pests occur, we find a deficiency of potassium, calcium, soda 
and iron; or the soil may contain these elements in such a state 
that they are not available to the plant. Phosphate of potassium 


106 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


107 


is the mineral basis of all muscular tissues, giving them their char¬ 
acteristic pliancy. All other organic salts exist in muscular tissues 
only in small proportions. Flesh is a very incomplete food, aside 
from the objection to the waste products it contains. It is adapted 
only to carnivorous animals, which are able to get their supply of 
soda, lime and iron by devouring the blood, bones and cartilage of 
their prey. Cereals, especially white flour products, show the same 
deficiency in organic salts as meat. Although the statement that 
“there is no life without potassium” cannot be contradicted, it 
should be modified, for potassium acts more favorably when the 
other elements are present in right proportion. An over-supply of 
this element is always injurious to organic life, and it is well known 
that, if contained in the soil in large proportions, or too frequently 
applied as a fertilizer, it is capable of producing poisonous effects. 
Experiments on wheat show that the roots make a much better 
growth in a mixture of chloride of potassium and chloride of 
sodium than in the pure solutions of these substances. It must be 
admitted, however, that potassium salts are of first importance in 
all processes of organic combinations of the elements. They are 
essential not only in the formation of carbohydrates and fat, but 
also in that of proteids, which are the principal organic compounds 
of the plant cell. In the synthetic processes of animal life, potas¬ 
sium salts are also indispensable. They play a part in the forma¬ 
tion of glycogen from glucose, of fats from glycogen, and of pro¬ 
teids from peptones and proteoses. The liver, which is the principal 
organ in glycogen-formation, contains twice as much potassium as 
sodium, while in the spleen the proportion of potassium to sodium 
is one to four. Potassium is also a predominant element in the red 
blood corpuscles and in the brain, and we may conclude, therefore, 
that the element is in some w T ay concerned in the generation of vital 
electricity and the functions of the brain and nervous system. 
Although potassium and sodium have similar chemical properties, 
they cannot be replaced by each other. 

Sodium occurs in inorganic nature in the form of salts, gener¬ 
ally as chloride of sodium in the water of oceans and salt seas, and, 
to a smaller extent, in spring waters. It is found as common 
salt in the strata of the earth’s crust. As nitrate of sodium, or 
chili-nitre, it is found in large quantities in South America. As 


108 


RATIONAL DIET 


silicate of sodium it is a constituent of many minerals. Like potas¬ 
sium it can be obtained in its elementary condition by electrolysis. 
It is a soft, white metal, melting at about 200° F. It rapidly oxi¬ 
dizes in the air and, if heated, burns with a yellow flame. It decom¬ 
poses water, but the generated heat is not high enough to ignite the 
liberated hydrogen. 

The view has been prevalent that sodium, although indispensable 
to animals, was of no special value to plants. So far no distinction 
has been made between the two fundamental functions of mineral 
salts which we now characterize as nutritive and protective. The 
protective function has not been understood until quite recently. 
Professor Osterhout of the department of botany in the University 
of California has made some interesting experiments in this respect. 
/He says, in part: 

“The whole subject was placed in a new light by Professor 
Jacques Loeb’s formulation of balanced solutions which developed 
as the result of experiments on animals and demonstrated the pro¬ 
tective action of sodium for muscle and nerve. I have shown in 
the last two years that this conception applies equally to plants. 
In proof of this I have shown that each of the ordinary salts of the 
soil (as well as of fresh water and ocean water) is poisonous for 
the plant when it alone is present in solution. We find, for example, 
that seeds placed in a solution of any one of these salts do not grow 
as well as in distilled water. Closer investigation shows that each 
of these salts has in addition to its osmotic effect a specific toxic 
effect according to its chemical nature. This is in the majority of 
cases due to the action of ions. We also find that we can counteract 
these poisonous chemical effects by adding certain salts which act 
as antidotes and which are therefore said to exercise a protective 
action. The same combination of salts which are beneficial for 
animals prove to be so for plants likewise. The agreement with the 
results from animals is complete, not only in principle, but even in 
details. ’ ’ 

Experiments have shown that sodium is able to act as a means 
of protection against excess of other salts in the soil, principally 
those of potassium, ammonium, calcium and magnesium. The 
abundance and ease of application of soda salts give them special 
value for normal plant-growth. In the same way, sodium acts as a 
protective agent in animals. This discovery constitutes a very 
important point of agreement between animals and plants and has 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 109 

a significant bearing on the theory of the unity of the phenomena 
of life. 

In the animal and human organism sodium has many important 
functions to perform. In combination with chlorine it is one of 
the principal constituents of the lymph. For the transmission of 
the electric induction-current, which is generated in the nerve 
spirals by the iron of the blood, a salty liquid is necessary, as is 
shown by the construction of electric batteries. The normal blood 
serum contains for this purpose a comparatively large quantity of 
sodium chloride, which favors and sustains the generation and con¬ 
duction of electric currents.- 

Sodium further serves to make the lime and magnesia salts in 
our food and, consequently, in the blood, more soluble and to 
keep them in a liquid state for perfect assimilation. Lime and 
magnesia, if not kept liquid by sodium, are soon deposited in the 
body, obstructing the capillaries, causing gall and bladder stones, 
paralysis, etc. Sodium also protects the blood from becoming too 
easily coagulated, the same as in the case of milk, where it keeps the 
casein, which is combined with lime and magnesia, in a liquid state. 
How very important sodium and sodium salts are for healthy nutri¬ 
tion appears, for instance, in the case of diphtheria. The real 
cause of this disease is a secretion of fibrin through the fauces from 
lymph and blood, because the latter does not contain enough sodium 
salts to prevent rapid coagulation of the fibrin. These salts have 
the property of redissolving even the coagulated fibrin and reducing 
it again to its liquid state. 

Sodium also plays an important part in the formation of 
saliva, pancreatic juices and bile. In the latter, especially, the dis¬ 
solving and reducing properties of the sodium salts can be very 
distinctly recognized in the emulsification and saponification of 
fats. Without a sufficient amount of sulphate of soda in our food, 
no normal bile can be formed, and grave disorders of the digestive 
functions, such as flatulency and constipation, will follow. 

The deficiency of sodium in the blood is also one of the princi¬ 
pal causes of diabetes, because of the inability of the system to 
take up sufficient oxygen to burn the carbon in the food. 

It has been pointed out that the absorption of oxygen depends 
on the amount of iron in the hemoglobin of the blood. On the other 


110 


RATIONAL DIET 


hand, the excretion of carbonic acid, as a result of the oxidation of 
protein, fat and carbohydrates, is carried on by the sodium phos¬ 
phate and sodium carbonate contained in the blood and lymph. 

This process is carried on in the following manner: sodium 
circulates in the blood as di-sodium phosphate, that is, in molecules 
which contain one atom of phosphorus to two atoms of sodium. 
While sodium phosphate is a staple union, the second atom of 
sodium is loosely connected with it. As soon as this additional atom 
finds a more powerful attraction, it separates and enters into a new 
combination. In this manner the carbon dioxide, resulting from 
the various processes of oxidation in the system, is taken up by the 
loose atom of sodium and turned into sodium carbonate again. This 
latter combination is not a lasting one, for as soon as it reaches the 
lungs through the veins, the carbon dioxide is discharged into the 
air, while the atom of sodium reunites with the sodium phosphate 
and continues its valuable function. In sodium we have, therefore, 
an indefatigable purifier of the system from poisonous carbonaceous 
waste products. Whenever there is a deficiency of sodium salts in 
the blood, the chemical changes between tissues and blood cannot 
be regulated, and excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide takes 
place in the body. The production of this waste product goes on, 
while its excretion is incomplete. Hence, we have the symptoms of 
carbon dioxide poisoning—pallid complexion, sour stomach, consti¬ 
pation and the proverbial ‘Hired feeling.” These symptoms gen¬ 
erally occur more frequently towards the end of winter and early 
spring, as during the colder seasons the average diet consists mainly 
of meat, pulses and cereals, which are lacking in soda salts. What¬ 
ever vegetables are eaten are, as a rule, so irrationally prepared 
that they are of little food value. As a matter of fact, under the 
present methods of living, almost every individual suffers from a 
deficiency of soda in the blood as a result of a wrong selection of 
food and over-eating. In the causation of disease uric acid is not 
such a prominent factor as the accumulation of carbon dioxide in 
the fluids and tissues. Carbon dioxide causes a deficient circulation 
of the blood in the skin, and this, again, by preventing the excretion 
of waste products through the skin, is responsible for a persistent 
inclination towards “catching cold,” which is really a synonymous 
expression for the retention of waste matter in the system. The 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


111 


imperfect circulation of the blood in the body generally makes the 
process of oxidation more difficult, thus giving rise to the formation 
of abnormal products of tissue change. Consequently, all the proc- 
esses of nutrition are functioning under difficulties and are incom¬ 
plete, as the small part of oxygen absorbed is not sufficient for 
perfect oxidation. The accumulation of insufficiently oxidized 
proteins, as in the case of an excessive meat, pulse or cereal diet, 
gives rise to the formation of considerable quantities of free sul¬ 
phuric and phosphoric acids, which, as they cannot combine with 
alkalies, will attack the tissues. This process takes place, for in¬ 
stance, in the so-called Banting-cure, in which emaciation actually 
results from the almost exclusive meat diet. Such a dietary, as 
also in the case of the Salisbury system, cannot be regarded as a 
rational cure, although it may temporarily remove some symp¬ 
toms, not, however, without weakening the patient and lowering 
his general resisting power. 

It is now admitted by all advanced physiologists that the power 
of the blood to resist disease depends upon its degree of alkalinity. 
Indeed, any body having blood rich in alkaline salts, and especially 
blood serum containing a normal amount of soda—the most impor¬ 
tant of the acid-binding salts—will show a high degree of resisting 
power against injurious influences and so-called contagious dis¬ 
eases, whether they be called smallpox, diphtheria, yellow fever or 
tuberculosis. The medical profession does, not yet recognize these 
important facts, nor does it realize that protection against disease 
must come from the development of strong and healthy tissues and 
not through vaccines, anti-toxins and serums. In other words, pre¬ 
vention and cure of disease must come from sunlight, pure air and, 
above all, from a properly regulated diet, rich in alkaline salts. 

If sodium is lacking in our food, and consequently in the blood, 
the bones will be attacked by the latter to supply the necessary 
alkaline salts to neutralize the acids, a condition which will cause 
diseases of the bones. In cases of rickets the blood often shows 
only forty per cent of the normal sodium and calcium contents. 

A table in the appendix shows the amount of sodium contained 
in 1,000 parts of water-free substance of all foods so far analyzed. 
It is well worth careful consideration in selecting and combining 
our foods. 


m 


RATIONAL DIET 


For the sake of comparison a smaller table with the sodium 
contents in foods is given below: 


Sodium Contained in 1,000 Parts of Water-free Substance 


Corn 

0.02 

Prunes 

3.41 

Walnuts 

0.17 

Apricots 

Cow’s milk 

3.76 

Peanuts 

0.21 

5.34 

Pecans 

0.36 

Cauliflower 

5.38 

Almonds 

0.38 

Turnips 

7.10 

Beans 

0.42 

Apples 

8.61 

Wheat 

0.50 

Beets 

9.00 

Oats 

0.59 

Eggs 

9.56 

Rice 

0.67 

Wliey 

9.75 

Cherries 

0.76 

Cucumbers 

10.00 

Oranges 

0.95 

Dried Figs 

10.77 

Potatoes 

1.33 

Cabbage 

11.68 

Yolk of Egg 

1.44 

Lettuce 

13.55 

Meat 

1.44 

Dandelions 

13.63 

Onions 

1.55 

Carrots 

14.63 

Cocoanuts 

1.57 

Asparagus 

14.77 

Olives 

2.52 

Strawberries 

18.53 

Human Milk 

3.16 

Radish 

23.37 

Tomatoes 

3.40 

Spinach 

57.42 


Cereals, pulses and nuts are low in the amount of sodium 
and should, therefore, form the smaller part of our dietary, while 
the bulk of our food should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, 
giving always preference to those rich in organic sodium salts. 
If we observe this rule we will find that we can gradually dis¬ 
pense with the inorganic chloride of sodium or table salt, or at 
least reduce its use to a minimum, much to the benefit of our health. 

Calcium is one of the most prevalent of the elements. As 
carbonate of calcium (CaC0 8 ) it is found in the form of calcium 
spar, limestone, chalk, marble, shells of eggs, mollusca, and corals, 
of which entire groups of islands are built. Sulphate of calcium 
and bicarbonate of calcium are readily dissolved in soft spring 
water. The element itself can be procured by electrolysis from 
molten chloride of calcium, when it appears as a light yellow metal, 
harder than lead, with a specific gravity of 1.58. Calcium in nature 
is always accompanied by more or less magnesium and, with the 
latter, represents the opposite pole to potassium (phosphate of 
potash) and ammonia, which predominate in all seeds and in the 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


113 


muscular tissues of the animals, thus holding the balance to these 
substances. Calcium in connection with magnesium is, therefore, 
the mineral foundation of the entire skeleton, as well as the carti¬ 
lages and tendons. Magnesium gives the bones a certain flexibility 
and protects them from becoming too easily fractured. 

Magnesium occupies a position intermediate between the alkali 
metals and the alkaline earths. To some extent it also resembles 
heavy metal zinc. Magnesium is widely diffused in nature and 
several of its compounds are found in large quantities. It occurs as 
chloride and sulphate in many spring waters and in salt mines, as 
in Stassfurt (Germany). Metallic magnesium may be obtained by 
the decomposition of magnesium chloride, by sodium or electrolysis. 
Magnesium is an almost silver white metal with a specific gravity 
of 1.74, losing its lustre rapidly in moist air by oxidation of the 
surface. It decomposes hot water by liberating oxygen, and, when 
heated to a red heat burns with a brilliant bluish white flame, form¬ 
ing magnesium oxide. 

Magnesium exists in the body principally as phosphate of mag¬ 
nesia in the bones, which contain about 50 per cent of phosphate 
of lime and one per cent of phosphate of magnesia. Yet this com¬ 
paratively small quantity gives the skeleton its firmness and pre¬ 
vents softening of the bony tissues (osteomalacea). Our teeth are 
harder than our bones, because they contain 1 y 2 per cent, or % P er 
cent more phosphate of magnesia than the bones. This explains the 
fact that in exhumation of ancient skulls the jawbones are partly 
decayed and decomposed, while the teeth are still pretty well pre¬ 
served. The ivory tusks of elephants contain 2 per cent phosphate 
of magnesium, and the billiard balls made from them are almost 
indestructible. The teeth of carnivorous animals contain nearly 5 
per cent phosphate of magnesia, and, for that reason, they are able 
to crush and grind the bones of their prey without difficulty. This 
is another proof that man is not of a carnivorous nature, and that 
meat eating is only one of his acquired habits. Curvature of the 
spine and the premature decay of teeth have to be attributed also 
to the lack of this element in our food. 

Magnesium, as well as calcium, iron and sulphur, also take part 
in the formation of the albumen of the blood. Magnesium is 
always found in much larger quantities than calcium in the 
muscular tissues, brain and nerves. Normal and healthy lungs 


114 


RATIONAL DIET 


show twice as much magnesia as lime. We must consider the salts 
of magnesium as cell-builders, particularly of the nervous system 
and lung tissues. They are also instrumental in reducing foreign 
matter and waste, and in carrying them out of the system, thus 
invigorating the natural excretory organs and maintaining the 
natural fluidity of the blood and osmotic pressure, without which 
metabolism would be impossible. 

Lime and magnesia also play an important part in the vegetable 
kingdom. Analytical investigations show that lime and magnesia 
are present in every part of the plants. The leaves contain rela¬ 
tively more lime, and the seeds relatively more magnesia than the 
other parts of the plants. These characteristics are the result of 
definite functions. The lime is necessary for the formation of cer¬ 
tain calcium compounds of nucleo-proteids required in the organ¬ 
ized structures of nuclei and chlorophyll bodies of the leaves, while 
the magnesium serves for the assimilation of phosphoric acid, as 
magnesium phosphate can release its phosphoric acid more easily 
than any other phosphate that occurs in plant juices. Thus calcium 
is chiefly required for the construction of plant tissue and at the 
same time facilitates the assimilation of other elements, while 
magnesium serves especially in aiding the assimilation of phos¬ 
phoric acid. These two elements can exert their nutritive func¬ 
tions only while they are in a certain dependence upon each other. 
An excess of the former in the soil will lead to starvation of the 
plants, and predominance of the latter to poisonous phenomena in 
growth. Lime is necessary for the formation of the cell wall from 
starch and sugar. It practically forms the skeleton of the cell wall, 
and in that respect is just as necessary for the foundation of 
the bones. In fact, a higher development in form and function 
becomes possible only when the lower forms of life acquire the 
ability to assimilate lime and to utilize the resulting calcium proteid 
compound for the formation of nuclei. The greater the leaf surface 
of plants is developed in a certain time, the more lime is necessary. 
A normal crop of wheat requires per acre about 10 lbs.; sugar 
beets, 26 lbs.; grass, 43*4 lbs.; clover, 98*4 lbs.; and tobacco, 135 
lbs., while a normal growth of wood needs annually about 44 lbs. 
of lime, besides 15 to 35 lbs. of magnesia, 4% to 22 lbs. of potash, 
and 2 to 9 lbs. of phosphoric acid. 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


115 


A deficiency of lime in the soil makes itself visible in diseased 
leaves and retarded growth. It has been found that etiolated or 
pale leaves contain less lime than do greener leaves. According to 
chemical analysis, 1,000 parts of green leaves contain 13.3 parts of 
lime, while the same quantity of etiolated leaves shows only 2.6 
parts of lime. Diseased leaves of the sugar beet show only half the 
amount of lime present in healthy leaves. The favorable influence 
of lime on certain soils has led to the very common agricultural 
practice of liming. 

Magnesium salts are especially important in the formation of 
seeds which are rich in phosphoric acid, but are also required by 
all other parts of plants, especially while in the process of develop¬ 
ment. Seeds rich in fat contain more magnesia than those rich in 
starch. The average proportion of magnesia in starchy seeds to 
that in oily seeds is about 2:5. In cereals magnesium is polarized 
in the outer coat or bran, which contains about four times as much 
of this element as the whole kernel, and about twenty times as 
much as the flour cells. 

Magnesium salts can exert their nourishing functions only in 
the presence of calcium salts, while in the absence of the latter they 
have an injurious effect. On the other hand, the absence of mag¬ 
nesium salts in otherwise complete culture solutions leads to a 
gradual stoppage of all further development and to final inanition. 
The determination and balancing of the available amount of mag¬ 
nesia and lime in the soils is, therefore, an important factor in suc¬ 
cessful farming. While lime salts are indispensable for animals, 
the higher plants and algae, they are not so in the case of bacteria, 
fungi, and lower algae. Certain parasitic fungi and insects in the 
soil are easily killed by the alkaline properties of burnt lime. 

In man and the higher vertebrate animals the lime salts make 
up more than 50 per cent of all the mineral elements composing the 
body. They are not only necessary for the formation of bones, 
but also for every part of the organism. Lime and iron are essential 
for the production of red blood corpuscles which are essential for 
proper respiration, since it is their function chemically to combine 
with oxygen. Without proper respiration the ingested food is oxi¬ 
dized incompletely and causes the accumulation of fat, which can 
be produced from sugar as well as from albumen. All protein mole- 


116 


RATIONAL DIET 


eules are intimately combined with small quantities of lime salts 
which seem indispensable for many functions of the body, as, for 
instance, the beating of the heart and the contraction of the skeletal 
muscles. Lime, if properly absorbed by the body, exercises a 
strengthening, cohesive influence on the bony structure, and the 
strength of our sinews and muscles attached to the bones must vary 
according to the strength and firmness of our skeleton. 

Calcium stands for strength and durability in the animal organ¬ 
ism. In order to retain health and vitality the food should con¬ 
tain the necessary amount of organic lime salts. Without a suffi¬ 
cient amount of lime, firm and healthy bones cannot be built. Even 
in the adult the bony tissues must be renewed from time to time, 
as they are subject to change of matter like all the other tissues of 
the body. Blood vessels enter the bones. They supply them with 
the necessary material for growth and tissue changes. In this way 
the bones are furnished with phosphate of lime and the other ele¬ 
ments entering into their structure. The arteries and capillaries 
bring continuously new material for the repair of all parts of the 
skeleton. On the other hand, the veins constantly carry off some of 
the worn-out lime salts for excretion. If there is a deficiency 
of lime salts in food, and consequently in the blood, the gelatine 
of the bones loses its chemical support and begins to decompose. 
Thus the teeth are first attacked from the inside by the venous 
blood, becoming hollow, while the saliva attacks them from without, 
dissolving the gelatinous matter which has lost its hold. In this 
way the teeth are deprived of their support in both directions and 
decay prematurely. It is often maintained that foods rich in lime 
‘tend to ossify the arteries and cause calcareous degeneration of the 
tissues. This occurs only in those cases in which the blood does not 
contain sufficient sodium salts to keep the phosphate of lime in 
solution. That there is lack of sodium in the usual diet of meat, 
white flour products and poorly prepared vegetables, has been 
pointed out. The habitual consumption of alcoholic beverages, 
such as wine and beer, likewise the use of vinegar, which are all 
deficient in mineral elements, also deprive the blood of organic 
salts, which are carried away by increased urination and the for¬ 
mation of carbon dioxide, resulting from the oxidation of alcohol. 
When wine and beer are drunk regularly every day, in time a 
condition must necessarily arrive when the blood does not contain 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


V 


117 


a sufficient amount of the essential organic salts for the formation 
of red blood corpuscles. It is then that asthma, corpulency and 
rheumatism appear. 

The greater part of the calcium, magnesium and sodium salts 
are contained in the blood, bones, tendons and cartilages. These 
are devoured by the carnivorous animals, but are not food for man, 
who should chiefly derive his supply of these elements from 
fruits and vegetables. The usual meat and cereal diet, especially 
white flour products in combination with refined sugar, are wholly 
inadequate in the amount of the above-named organic salts. A 
large number of diseases, especially during childhood, where the 
tissue changes are most pronounced, must be attributed to this fact. 

On account of the deficiency in lime, iron and sulphur, meat, 
especially that of fish, decomposes very rapidly. By salting and 
pickling the meat in order to preserve it, the organic salts are 
replaced through osmosis by the inorganic chloride of sodium, the 
former passing into the brine. It is mainly for this reason that 
people living largely on salted meat or fish suffer from scurvy and 
leprosy. Wherever there is a deficiency of lime in the organic 
world, we see an increase in development of invertebrate creatures, 
such as worms and maggots, parasites and fungi, which always 
indicate a deficiency of calcium, magnesium, iron and sulphur in 
the plants. A table containing the amount of calcium in 1,000 
parts of water free substance in foods is given in the appendix. 

It is, of course, irrational to prescribe lime for children in the 
form of inorganic compounds. In medical practice, rickety and 
scrofulous children are constantly being ordered to take a couple of 
teaspoonfuls of lime-water. Even if the inorganic lime could be 
utilized, the amount ordered would be far too small. A saturated 
solution of lime contains less lime than cow’s milk. A pint of 
cow’s milk contains 26 grains of lime; a pint of lime-water only 
19 grains. 

Green leaf vegetables rank highest in the amount of lime. 
Among fruits, oranges, lemons, strawberries, figs and grapes excel 
in this important element. Cereals are more or less deficient in 
lime, and therefore, contrary to the general opinion, do not cause 
hardening of the arteries, which is rather due to retention of waste 
matter, resulting from a high protein diet. 

It has been estimated that the calcium requirements of the 


118 


RATIONAL DIET 


average adult person are about 0.45 gram or 200 grains per day. 
This requirement must naturally increase in maternity, especially 
during the last three months of pregnancy, when the foetus is 
rapidly growing. A daily supply of green leaf vegetables in the 
form of salads is, therefore, absolutely necessary, not only to insure 
the normal growth of the unborn child, but also an easy parturition. 

Iron, among all the heavy metals, is the most useful as 
well as the most widely and abundantly diffused in nature. It is 
usually found in small quantities in nearly all forms of rock, clay, 
sand and earth. It never occurs as a free metal, but chiefly com¬ 
bined with oxygen as ferrous and ferric oxides. Chemically pure 
iron has a silver white color and a specific weight of 7.8. It is, 
therefore, the heaviest element composing the human body. In 
inorganic form iron is generally combined with oxygen, sulphur, 
carbon and silicon. Silicates of iron, when decomposed by atmos¬ 
pheric carbonic acid, turn into carbonate of iron which is soluble 
in water containing carbonic acid, and is thus distributed by water 
all over the earth. Carbonate of iron, in coming in contact with 
the air, is oxidized into oxide of iron. The latter is again reduced by 
decaying organic matter into carbonate of iron and dissolved and 
carried off by water. We have in iron, therefore, a ceaseless oxidiz¬ 
ing agent, preventing the retention of carbon in the soil and en¬ 
abling it to return to the air, in order to begin anew the cycle of 
life. 

In the organic world iron also plays an important part as a 
carrier of oxygen and stands in the closest possible relation to the 
fundamental processes of change of matter, or metabolism. 

It has been pointed out heretofore that iron in the animal 
organism does not occur in an inorganic form, but as a small part 
of a complex organic compound. This is the most complicated 
compound that has been carefully investigated, containing as it 
does over two thousand atoms in a molecule and making up the 
red coloring matter of the blood, the hemoglobin, which first ap¬ 
pears in the body of the vertebrate animals. The vegetable king¬ 
dom, which has the power of assimilating inorganic compounds 
of iron, builds up the complex organic compounds from which the 
hemoglobin is produced. Iron is taken from the soil and carried 
to the leaves, where it takes part in the formation of the chloro- 
phjdl granules, which is the green coloring matter of nature. 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


119 


If plants are allowed to grow in solutions free from iron, the 
leaves become colorless or etiolated, but turn green as soon as iron 
salts are added to the liquid in which the roots are immersed. 
The amounts of iron and chlorophyll vary in the different parts 
of the plant. For instance, the green leaves of cabbage contain 
four times as much iron as the inner etiolated leaves. From many 
investigations it appears that in the bodies of plants, animals 
and man, iron serves for the following distinct purposes: 

(1) For the production of the chlorophyll of the plant, prin¬ 
cipally contained in the green leaves, and of the hemoglobin of 
the red blood corpuscles. 

(2) For the assimilation of carbon dioxide, and for the 
synthesis of organic matter from inorganic matter in the plant by 
means of the chlorophyll and sunlight. 

(3) For the process of respiration in man and animals. It 
is the hemoglobin that carries the molecular oxygen through the 
capillaries to all parts of the body where the ingested food, which 
has been changed into blood and lymph and stored in the cells of 
the tissues, is oxidized or burnt. 

(4) For the generation of a magnetic blood current and an 
electro-magnetic induction current in the nerve spirals which 
pass through the walls of arteries and veins and help to build 
and nourish them. 

Chlorophyll, or the coloring matter of the leaf, which also needs 
for its production other mineral elements besides iron (such as 
lime and phosphoric acid), is closely related to hemoglobin, or the 
coloring matter of the blood, and the formation of the latter de¬ 
pends on the presence of the former. Only those cells in the plant 
that contain chlorophyll are capable of absorbing carbon dioxide. 
Without the latter the necessary proteins cannot be formed, as 
the plant must construct the highly complex protein molecule 
from the simplest inorganic compounds, viz., carbon: dioxide, 
water, salts and oxygen, while the animal requires the organized 
substances for his nourishment. Proteins, like sugars and 
starches, are carbon compounds, containing as they do over fifty 
per cent carbon. As the carbon of the plant is governed by the 
chlorophyll, and the latter depends upon the iron, it follows that 
chlorotic or etiolated plants must contain less of carbon compounds 
than plants containing the maximum of iron and, consequently, 
of chlorophyll. Man and animals, in turn, partaking of such 
food cannot receive therefrom the chemical constituents necessary 


120 


RATIONAL DIET 


for health. We should, therefore, pay attention not only to the 
food we eat, but also to the soil upon which it is grown. Indeed, 
it is the soil to which we have to look for the ultimate source of our 
welfare. 

Iron plaj^s such an important part in the prevention of disease, 
that all of its functions should be considered more carefully. Iron 
is found not only in the hemoglobin but in other cells and tissues 
of the body. It is also vitally concerned with the processes of 
secretion, reproduction, and development, standing, therefore, in 
fundamental relation to all the vegetative processes of the system. 
The iron of food, after the latter has been converted into 
chyme and chyle, is largely absorbed from the small intestines, 
entering the circulation by way of the lymph tract, and is de¬ 
posited mainly in the liver, spleen and bone marrow. Its final 
elimination takes place chiefly through the walls of the larger 
intestines, especially the colon. 

The total amount of iron in the human body is comparatively 
small and probably does not exceed seventy-five grains in the normal 
state of health. Of this quantity about fifty grains are contained in 
the blood, the remainder being distributed in the marrow of the 
bones, the liver and principally in the spleen. Iron is perhaps 
the most active element in the system and needs, therefore, to be 
renewed more frequently than, for instance, calcium and potas¬ 
sium. The body of an adult man needs about one-third of a grain 
(twenty milligrams) daily. Smaller animals need more iron 
proportionally than larger ones on account of increased respira¬ 
tion. While in man the amount of iron is about 0.2 per mille of 
the entire body weight, in a mouse it is over 0.4 per mille. In 
iron nature demonstrates how she can obtain the greatest results 
with the smallest quantities of matter. Upon the iron content 
of the blood depends, in the last analysis, not only its oxidation and 
circulation, but also the degree of vitality of the body. As Fara¬ 
day demonstrated, the ferruginous blood is of a magnetic nature. 
By means of its circulation, which is partly produced by respira¬ 
tion, partly by the positive power of attraction of the nervous 
system and the negative condition of the blood, the iron contents 
of the latter become magnetic, and the blood itself acquires the 
magnetic power of attraction. This mutual, electro-magnetic 
power of attraction of the electric nervous system, by means of 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


121 


the respired oxygen, effects the combustion of blood and nerve 
substance and simultaneously the liberation of the latent energy— 
heat, and, above all, electricity. The latter is largely stored up 
in all the natural foods, from which normal blood and nerves are 
formed. 

The blood corpuscles play, therefore, a leading part in those 
tissue changes essential to life. Each corpuscle consists of a 
stroma permeated by a red fluid—hemoglobin—which readily com¬ 
bines with either oxygen or carbonic acid, but so loosely that, 
under slightly altered conditions, these gases easily separate from 
the corpuscles. In the lungs the corpuscles, through the hemo¬ 
globin, take up oxygen which they carry to all parts of the body. 
In its tissue metabolism, the red blood corpuscles yield up the 
oxygen which is necessary for the processes of combustion, and 
subsequently for the creation of animal heat and magnetism. 
After having parted with the oxygen, the hemoglobin unites with 
part of the carbonic acid produced by the tissue changes, and 
the corpuscles, thus re-laden, carry their burden back to the lungs 
and discharge the carbonic acid, taking up a new supply of oxy¬ 
gen. If the hemoglobin of the blood falls below a certain standard, 
the supply of oxygen necessary to healthy tissue changes, in brain, 
nerve, muscle, etc., becomes too limited, and all the metabolic 
processes will be performed imperfectly, the vitality lowered, and 
resisting power of the body lessened. A deficiency of hemo¬ 
globin is remedied by a supply of foods rich in organic iron com¬ 
pounds. Only the latter are able to promote the production of 
blood corpuscles, and cause each corpuscle to carry with it more 
hemoglobin; hence the specific health-giving power of organic 
iron. 

The popular term “anemia,” a condition which is generally 
indicated by pallor of the skin and mucous membranes, and men¬ 
tal and physical depression, is not accurately descriptive, since 
the blood of an anemic person really is not deficient in quantity 
but in quality. It is lacking in organic salts, especially in those 
of iron and sodium, and shows, therefore, a low specific gravity 
and a deficiency of red blood corpuscles. Comparing the blood of 
a healthy person with that of one suffering from extreme anemia, 


122 


RATIONAL DIET 


great differences have been found, as is shown in the following 
table: 

In State In Anaemia and 

of Health : Chlorosis : 


Proportion of water 
Proportion of solids 
Specific gravity 


80 per cent 
20 per cent 
1.055 


88 per cent 
12 per cent 
1.035 


Number of red blood corpuscles 
per cubic m.m. or small 

drop 4 to 5 millions 1 to 2 millions 

Proportion of hemoglobin 12 per cent 2 per cent 


Knowing that hemoglobin is the carrier of oxygen in and 
through the system, it becomes obvious that in certain instances a 
healthy and normal individual can take into his system at least 
six times more oxygen than one suffering from impoverished blood. 
It is, therefore, not only necessary that the oxygen enters the 
lungs, but that it should actually be absorbed into the system 
by the action of a sufficient number of red blood corpuscles. Those 
whose blood is anemic and whose vitality is low, because of wrong 
and inadequate nutrition, cannot derive much benefit from deep 
breathing and exercise in fresh air, before they have corrected 
their dietetic errors, and improved the condition of their blood and 
lymph. 

That nature tries to protect the system from a deficiency of 
iron, by storing this element in the liver and spleen, is a most 
significant fact. Under normal conditions these organs store up 
a certain amount of iron to be drawn upon when there is a sud¬ 
den demand for the rapid formation of red corpuscles, as, for in¬ 
stance, after heavy losses of blood. In the liver we find iron in 
various forms, from the simple oxide and phosphate of iron to 
the more complicated compounds which rapidly diminish after 
hemorrhages, or when the food does not furnish the requisite 
amount of this element. This circumstance indicates that the 
normal liver maintains the balance of organic iron in the system, 
thus repairing any accidental loss. 

Most remarkable and characteristic is the function of iron in 
the spleen, an organ whose physiological importance has not been 
understood until within recent years. The spleen acts in our 
body as an electric power station where the blood is recharged 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


123 


with electricity. This is effected by means of an apparently in¬ 
significant device by which the blood current is suddenly checked. 
As is well known, the arterial capillaries in all other parts of our 
body pass into those of the veins, but in the spleen the fine arterial 
capillaries terminate and become small sacs, which are called after 
their discoverer the ‘‘Malpighian corpuscles .’’ There the circula¬ 
tion of the blood apparently is brought to a standstill. The follow¬ 
ing illustration shows the termination of an arterial capillary in the 
spleen, in linear enlargement of about 1:50: 



a. Arterial capillaries of the spleen in longitudinal section. 

b. Malpighian corpuscles, consisting of a delicate network, in the 

meshes of which lie ordinary lymphoid cells. 


"We know that the ferruginous blood is magnetic in character. 
The sudden impact of the magnetic blood current upon the walls 
of the Malpighian corpuscles has the effect of converting its mag¬ 
netism into electricity. We must, therefore, assume that minute 
electric discharges take place from the spherical walls of the 
Malpighian corpuscles into the blood. That this is actually the 
case is shown by the fact that the fluid plasma which penetrates 
through the delicate membranes of the corpuscles contains certain 
fatty acids, which are the result of electrical decomposition of 
nerve fat. We know that the exceedingly fine nerve filaments 
of the spleen, which proceed from the solar plexus of the sympa¬ 
thetic system, accompany the ramifications of the splenic artery 
to the Malpighian corpuscles. The acid splenic secretion is taken 








124 


RATIONAL DIET 


up by the venous capillaries, which carry it by means of the por¬ 
tal vein to the liver. Here the acids act as electric excitants, 
supplying the necessary electrical tension to the hepatic cells in 
order to secrete a strongly digestive alkaline bile. It becomes 
obvious that the action of the liver is dependent upon that of the 
spleen, principally in its iron contents. If, by a deficiency of this 
element, the function of the spleen is thrown out of order, we 
have no proper bile secretion, and, without the latter, no perfect 
digestion and assimilation. Consequently, malnutrition, impov¬ 
erished blood, diminished nervous strength, and a lowered state 
of vitality soon render the body easily subject to any injurious 
influences. 

The importance of iron in the vegetable and animal kingdom, 
and its relation to health and disease has been exhaustively 
treated by Professor E. F. Wright in his interesting and instruc¬ 
tive book “Plant Disease,” from which the following paragraphs 
are quoted: 

“It can be taken as an axiom that in all fevers the active agent 
is a bacterium which is another name for one class of plants known 
as fungi. It is taught by many that it is the fungus which causes 
the chemical deficiency, while others say there must be a deficiency 
before the fungus can start its growth. I shall try to show that 
the first position is untenable. Some say that while the bacteria 
could not consume the iron, they might act on the blood chemically, 
so that the iron would escape from the system. This suggestion 
seems to be an impossibility, brought forward to support a bad 
case, because it has been proved over and over again that iron is 
fatal to all fungi, consequently it is unreasonable to suggest that 
bacteria would attack a perfectly healthy animal, and destroy the 
blood containing a constituent which was poison to them. 

“Secondly, if bacteria could attack all alike, the natural con¬ 
clusion would be that it would not be long before this fungi would 
have destroyed all higher forms of life from the face of the earth. 

“That such is not the case, however, is proven by the fact 
that the majority of doctors and nurses in consumptive hospitals 
always remain immune to this disease. 

“Further, it has been proven that where animals can obtain 
iron, they are much more immune to disease than in places where 
iron is wanting, from which we can only conclude that the pres¬ 
ence of iron in the blood enables animal life to withstand the 
attacks of these bacteria, and as a corollary that the bacteria do 
not produce the deficiency, a conclusion which is further confirmed 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


125 


by the fact that bacteria can only live on foods that correspond 
more or less with their own chemical composition. 

“Another factor is that proteins are fatal to bacteria, and the 
fact that a normal hemoglobin which is of the nature of a protein, 
is a poison to these, explains why these fungi are never found in 
normal blood, for the all powerful reason that they could not live 
in it. 

“This reduces the whole question again to the fact that a 
normal hemoglobin, through its various functions, renders the 
animal immune to an innumerable number of bacterial or fungoid 
diseases. 

“In tuberculosis, it is universally recognized that oxygen is 
very beneficial, but the fact that thousands of cattle living in the 
open air suffer from it, shows that it is not sufficient that the 
oxygen should enter the lungs, but that it must be absorbed into 
the system, which can only be accomplished by the action of 
normal hemoglobin. 

“It is clear from the above that in certain diseases at any rate, 
and, as I think, in most, the animal having a normal hemoglobin, 
is more likely to be immune than one whose blood is defective. In 
other words, if my conclusion is correct, the susceptibility to cer¬ 
tain bacterial diseases is directly traceable to the use of chlorotic 
food. . . Animal life living on normal or the best foods, has 

its whole system worked as nature intended it should be worked. 
And as food degenerates from the normal, so do the functions of 
animal life degenerate, so that the greater the degeneration of 
the food, the greater the degeneration of the functions, and the 
degree of variation in degeneration accounts for the degree of 
variation in the virulence of a given disease in any animal 
attacked.” 

Accepting the conclusion arrived at by both experiment and 
practical experience, viz., that inorganic forms of iron are of no 
value in the vital economy of the system; that all the supply of 
iron must come from natural food stuffs, in which that element 
exists in the form of highly complex organic compounds, from 
which hemoglobin can be produced, we must necessarily devote 
some study to the iron contents of the various articles of diet. This 
knowledge will be of the greatest value in the treatment and pre¬ 
vention of all diseases arising from an impoverished state of blood. 

While a most comprehensive table of the iron contents of foods 
is given with the other tables, we shall consider here only some 


126 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the most frequently used articles of the human dietary, stating 
the amount of iron in 1000 parts of water free substance: 


Fish 

trace 

Pinons 

0.60 

Meat of chicken 

trace 

Walnuts 

0.61 

White flour 

0.03 

Cherries 

0.70 

Polished rice 

0.05 

Carrots 

0.70 

Dates 

0.06 

Prunes 

0.94 

Bananas 

0.07 

Tomatoes 

1.00 

Human milk 

0.07 

Horseradish 

1.25 

Meat, average 

0.15 

Gooseberries 

1.32 

Beans 

0.19 

Rye bran 

1.40 

Unpolished rice 

0.22 

Cucumbers 

1.40 

White of egg 

0.25 

Pumpkins 

1.88 

Rye 

0.25 

Cabbage 

2.16 

Peanuts 

0.27 

Onions 

2.20 

Cow’s milk 

0.30 

Swiss chard 

2.30 

Whole wheat 

0.30 

Asparagus 

2.94 

Wheat bran 

0.38 

Radishes 

3.00 

Oranges 

0.38 

Strawberries 

3.73 

Cocoanut 

0.40 

Rice bran 

4.00 

Yolk of egg 

0.40 

Spinach 

6.05 

Grapes, average 

0.45 

Leeks 

7.60 

Apples 

0.46 

Lettuce 

9.40 

Figs 

0.60 

Sorrel 

9.85 


In glancing over the above table we find the surprising fact 
that milk, which is the exclusive food of the growing organism, 
possesses a very small amount of iron. This is the more remark¬ 
able since all the organic salts are contained in milk in about the 
same proportion as they are needed for the growth of the new¬ 
born. According to the analysis of Professor Bunge, the total 
mineral matter in dog’s milk and in the newborn puppy are com- 


posed as follows: 

Dog’s Milk 

Newborn 

Puppy 

Potash 

14.98 

per 

cent 

11.42 

per 

cent 

Soda 

8.80 

< < 

< < 

10.64 

<« 

< < 

Lime 

27.24 

< < 

< < 

29.52 

< < 

< < 

Magnesia 

1.54 

< < 

< < 

1.82 

(i 

< « 

Oxide of iron 

0.12 

< < 

< < 

0.72 

(( 

< c 

Phosphoric acid 

34.22 

< c 

(i 

39.42 

< i 

(( 

Chlorine 

16.90 

l ( 

i « 

8.35 

< i 

(( 


The relative proportions of the mineral constituents, with the 
exception of iron, show but slight variation in each case. The 
amount of this element contained in the young animal is six times 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


127 


larger than in that of the milk upon which it is fed. That the 
young animal grows rapidly and increases its blood supply in spite 
of this apparent deficiency of iron, is explained by the fact that 
the newborn is provided with a reserve supply of iron in its tissues. 
In a series of carefully conducted experiments with various ani¬ 
mals, Bunge has shown that the amount of iron is the highest at 
birth, and that it gradually diminishes afterwards, until the animal 
is able to partake of the natural solid food for which its organ¬ 
ism is adapted. Thus at least five times more iron is found in the 
liver of the new-born than in that of full-grown animals. Nature 
seems to have made this wise provision for the reason that the 
organic compounds of iron are apparently assimilated with great 
difficulty by the new-born. Hence, the material organism uses up 
its supply of iron with the greatest economy. The amount which 
must be conveyed to the infant organism could reach it in two 
ways: through the placenta or through the mammary glands. 
Nature chooses the former as the safer plan because the organic 
compounds of iron, if conveyed through the mouth and alimentary 
canal, might be decomposed by fermentative processes before they 
could be absorbed by the system. That nature protects the grow¬ 
ing organism from a deficiency of iron is certainly proof of the 
great necessity for an ample supply of this element in building 
up the normal and healthy body. 

Only a small quantity of iron is assimilated from the milk dur¬ 
ing lactation. Bunge showed that in young rabbits the absolute 
amount of iron remains nearly always the same, while the body 
increases in weight sixfold by the end of the fourth week. Con¬ 
sequently, the relative proportion of iron falls to one-sixth and 
the animals at this time appear to be already anemic. As soon as 
they begin to feed on grass and green leaves containing an abun¬ 
dance of iron, the amount of hemoglobin begins to increase again. 

In the light of this knowledge, it seems very probable that 
children often become anemic if the milk diet is prolonged or too 
exclusively employed after the natural period of lactation. This 
is confirmed by many who have made close observation. For in¬ 
stance, Professor Kubner, a German physician of wide experience, 
makes the following statement: 

“For many years a number of children’s physicians have 
recommended that an exclusive milk diet should not be continued 
too long towards the end of the nursing period. For about ten 


128 


RATIONAL DIET 


years I have myself adopted and have also taught the principle 
of giving other food as a supplement to milk after the infant has 
reached the age of nine or ten months, and this not only in cases 
of anaemia, but also in other rachitic conditions of rickety chil¬ 
dren, although I am not able to adduce any reason for this treat¬ 
ment. I may add that I was much pleased to read the first work 
published by Professor Bunge on this subject, and have followed 
his experiments with the greatest interest. Since then I have 
found it highly beneficial to give even vegetables to young chil¬ 
dren. In my practice I have met with the greatest astonishment 
on the part of the parents who consulted me, when I told them 
to give the child (which perhaps had eight teeth) a small spoon¬ 
ful of fresh spinach juice or scraped apple or something of the 
kind every day. This advice was the result of long and favorable 
experience. ’ ’ 

Again, Professor Monti of Vienna says in an article on “Wean¬ 
ing and Nutrition”: 

“If children are nursed up to the fifteenth month, they do not 
grow as they should, even when the milk is sufficient in quantity. 
They become anaemic, their muscles become flabby, and their de¬ 
velopment is delayed, so that, instead of attempting to walk at the 
end of the first year, they do not begin to do so until they are 
about eighteen or nineteen months old. There are certainly a few 
races with whom it is customary to nurse children after they have 
attained the first year. We have frequently had the opportunit} 7- 
of seeing some of these children, most of whom are of Slavonic 
parentage, and found in all cases a state of malnutrition. Other 
food than mother’s milk is always required. The custom of pro¬ 
longed nursing exists in France, in a few parts of Italy, and, 
according to hearsay, in Japan. All authorities are agreed, how¬ 
ever, that the continuation of the nursing period beyond the 
proper time always induces disturbances in the child’s nutrition, 
and that many cases of rickets must be ascribed to this practice.” 

Bunge mentions a youth of eighteen years who had lived on 
nothing but milk from the time of his birth. The boy stated that 
he had occasionally tried a piece of bread or a pear, but that it 
had not agreed with him. He had an intense dislike to all animal 
and vegetable food. His face was pale, as well as the mucous 
membrane of the tongue and of the conjunctivas He suffered 
from cold feet and hands, was easily tired in walking, and had 
palpitation of the heart when he ascended the stairs. It was 
found that, although his blood contained five million blood cor¬ 
puscles in the cubic millimeter (a quantity making up a small 
drop), it had only 8.6 per cent hemoglobin, whereas a normal 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


129 


person has 12 to 16 per cent. The hoy’s condition was similar 
to that occurring in chlorosis. Furthermore, Bunge regards it 
as probable that many prospective mothers during the period of 
pregnancy do not assimilate as much iron as is required by the 
foetus. 

It has been estimated that the normal child at birth has about 
ten grains of iron, of which two-thirds has been drawn from the 
blood of the mother during the last three months, so that it is very 
important that before and during this period the diet should fur¬ 
nish an abundance of iron, as well as sodium and calcium. During 
normal lactation the daily secretion of milk is about one quart. 
The iron requirement of the mother must be increased accordingly 
by a liberal supply of fresh fruits and green-leaf vegetables. 

Next to milk, cereals, which are so-called staple foods, contain 
the smallest amount of iron, at least in the form in which they are 
generally consumed, when deprived of their outer coats. Chemical 
analysis shows that white flour and polished rice contain only one- 
half as much iron as human milk, and rice even ten times less 
than cow’s milk. All grains contain iron, which varies, of course, 
according to the iron contents of the soil. The greater amount 
of the element, being stored up in the outer layers and in the 
germ of the kernel, is lost in the modern milling processes. The 
organic iron compounds of the germ seem to play an important 
part in the germination of the seed and the nutrition of the young 
plant which, similarly to the new-born animal, requires easily 
digestible and assimilable food. Experiments indicate that the 
iron in bran is also assimilated by the animal body, and promotes 
the formation of hemoglobin. 

Fruits and nuts contain an appreciable amount of iron, straw¬ 
berries and walnuts ranking highest. Of the vegetables, those 
bearing the greenest leaves always have the largest amount of iron 
compounds. But we must remember that in order to produce 
normal food products, special attention must be paid to the soil, 
which should contain an appreciable amount of iron. Frequent 
analyses of the soil are, therefore, of great importance. 

In eggs the iron is mostly contained in the yolk, while the 
white contains only traces of it. Meat, as ordinarily eaten, the 
muscular tissues having been washed free from blood, contains 
but a comparatively small amount of iron. Fatty tissues are 


130 


RATIONAL DIET 


nearly free from iron. The quantity of iron in fat meat is much 
less than that in lean meat. As the iron in meat is largely due 
to the amount of blood retained in it, anaemic persons have been 
sent to slaughter houses to drink the warm blood just as it came 
from the animal’s body, but with apparently little success. The 
iron in the product of the dead animal naturally has a decidedly 
lower nutritive value than the iron compounds of the vegetable 
kingdom, as the animal organism—the hemoglobin molecule—has 
lost part of its vitality in the metabolic life processes. 

The flesh of most kinds of fish is more or less deficient in iron. 
This is most likely the reason why people subsisting chiefly on 
peeled rice and fish are subject to severe skin and nervous diseases, 
such as scurvy, leprosy, beri-beri, etc., which have their origin in 
a degeneration of blood and lymph. During the campaign in the 
Philippine Islands, an army officer, while stationed on the Island 
of Samar, observed that many elderly people of that locality were 
victims of leprosy. When asked how the disease was contracted, 
they referred back to a time—some thirty years previous—when 
a terrible storm visited the interior of the island and destroyed all 
their trees and vegetable food products. They were compelled 
for months to live on fish and clams. They declared that the 
disease started at that time and the exclusive fish and clam diet 
was directly responsible for it. 

The importance of green vegetables, especially prepared as 
wholesome salads, must, therefore, be particularly emphasized, 
since we are practically dependent upon the vegetable kingdom 
for the greater part of iron, which is found in plants in the form 
of highly organized ferruginous nucleo-albumens. 

Manganese resembles iron in its physical and chemical prop¬ 
erties. Its specific weight, 7.2, is a little less than that of iron, 
while it is slightly darker in color, considerably harder, and some¬ 
what more easily oxidized. In nature manganese accompanies iron 
everywhere. It is contained in the red blood corpuscles, though in 
much smaller quantities than iron, and seems to have a decided 
influence on the vegetative functions and the glands in general, 
enabling them to improve the quality of their secretions. Like 
iron, manganese is an oxygen carrier from the lungs to the cells. 

Traces of this element are found throughout the vegetable 
kingdom, and in considerable quantity in the ash of a few plants, 


THE ACID-BINDING ELEMENTS 


131 


especially in the wood of some trees. Experiments have shown, 
however, that, physiologically, manganese cannot replace iron in 
plants in all instances, although the chemical properties of the 
elements are similar. Soluble manganese compounds may, on the 
one hand, be injurious to the chlorophyll, while, on the other hand, 
they may exert a beneficial action by stimulating the growth of 
the plant, especially when these compounds are supplied in a 
sufficiently high degree of dilution. A Japanese investigator in a 
field experiment with rice recently observed an increase of one-third 
of the harvest after adding sulphate of manganese to the soil at 
the rate of about forty pounds per acre. Great care should always 
be exercised in application of both iron and manganese compounds 
to the soil, as an over supply of these elements has a detrimental 
effect on the growth of plants and trees. 

Aluminum is often found in foods of both vegetable and ani¬ 
mal origin. It is present only in very diminutive amounts as alu¬ 
minum oxide, or alumina (A 2 0 3 ). Its chemical action is similar to 
that of magnesium. 


CHAPTER XIII 


The Acid-Forming Elements 

The principal acid-forming elements in the body consist of 
phosphorus, sulphur, silicon, chlorine and fluorine. 

Phosphorus is chiefly found in nature in the form of phos¬ 
phates of calcium, iron and aluminum, which minerals form de¬ 
posits in some localities, but also occur diffused in small quantities 
through all soils upon which plants will grow, phosphorus being 
an essential constituent in the food of most plants. 

Phosphorus in its isolated state is manufactured chemically 
from bones, which contain fifty-eight per cent phosphate of cal¬ 
cium and four per cent phosphate of magnesium. The element 
appears as a colorless, transparent substance which has somewhat 
the appearance and consistency of bleached wax. In the course of 
time, and especially upon exposure to the light, it changes by de¬ 
grees and becomes less and less translucent, gradually turns white, 
yellow and, finally, yellowish-red. It has a specific gravity of 
1.83 and is brittle at the freezing point, until it fuses at 111° F., 
forming a yellowish fluid. 

The most characteristic features of phosphorus are its great 
affinity for oxygen, and its luminosity. It is visible in the dark 
(phosphorescence), from which property its name, signifying 
“carrier of light,” has been derived. Because of its affinity for 
oxygen, phosphorus has to be kept under water, as it invariably 
takes fire when exposed to the air. The slow oxidation takes place 
upon the surface of the phosphorus, soon raising it to 122° F., at 
which temperature it ignites and burns with a bright white flame, 
and gives off dense white fumes of phosphoric dioxide. Phosphorus 
is invisible in water, slightly soluble in alcohol and, if brought in 
contact with living tissues, causes burns. Taken internally it acts 
as a strong poison. 

In the plant, phosphoric acid takes part in the formation of 
the very complicated compounds of the various forms of lecithin 
formula and nucleo-proteins, which are integral parts of every 
vegetable and animal cell. Phosphorus enters the animal body 


132 


TIIE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


133 


chiefly in combinations, and only to a small extent as salts. Phos¬ 
phorus leaves the body in the same form in which it entered the 
plant, namely, as phosphate. The embryos of plants can develop 
by cell division only when phosphates are stored up in sufficient 
quantities in the seeds for the formation and increase of the nu¬ 
clear substance in the new cells. The yield of grain is increased 
much more by phosphoric acid than by nitrogen or potash. 

In the vital processes of the animal, lecithins (phosphorus com¬ 
pounds) , play a most important part. They have, in common with 
fats, to which they are closely allied in composition, the property 
of solubility in alcohol and ether. But at the same time they have 
the property of swelling in water, and of being somewhat soluble 
in it—a property which renders them physiologically superior to 
ordinary fats. 

Lecithin seems to be essential to respiration, as it represents 
the form into which the fat must be changed to become oxidized 
in the protoplasm, since the substances serving for respiration 
must be present in the protoplasm in a dissolved condition. It is 
this peculiarity which enables lecithin to take part in many other 
chemical processes of the tissues. The brain and the nervous sys¬ 
tem contain an appreciable amount of lecithin, and the gray mat¬ 
ter of the brain shows seventeen per cent of this substance, which 
is the essential and indispensable medium through which the 
higher intellectual forces manifest themselves. 

Although phosphorus is one of the principal constituents of 
the brain, the expression of Moleschott, “no thought without phos¬ 
phorus,’ ’ is not justified, if it is meant to convey the idea that the 
amount of phosphorus passing through the body bears a causal 
relation to the intensity of thought. A captive lion or tiger as¬ 
similates and parts with a greater amount of phosphorus than a 
person performing difficult mental labor, while the excreta of a 
beaver noted for its powers of contrivance are so small that chem¬ 
ical analysis can hardly find it. 

The greater the purity in which lecithin is found, the higher 
the intelligence of the animal, even in the smallest insects. The 
superior acuteness of senses displayed, for instance, by bees and 
ants, is due to this fact. It is not the quantity, but the quality of 
the highly organized phosphorus compounds which seems to be so 
vitally connected with the thought processes. 


134 


RATIONAL DIET 


Chemically considered, lecithin is a combination of two por¬ 
tions of fat with one of phosphate of ammonia; it can also be 
formed directly from sugar, which is the chemical basis of all 
fats. Being easily combustible and having a large amount of 
potential energy in a small volume, lecithin is well adapted to sus¬ 
tain the ceaseless activities of the nervous system and the respira¬ 
tory organs. As common oil burns in the wick of a lamp, so does 
our nerve-oil or lecithin burn in the fine ramifications of the wick¬ 
like nerve-fibres, by means of the oxygen supplied by the arteries 
and capillaries from the lungs. 

It may be asserted that for the proper function of the brain 
a supply of phosphoric salts is necessary, but the same may 
be said with equal justice of oxygen, carbon, water, etc. The 
intensity of thought does not depend on a single element, but on 
a perfect working order of brain and nervous system, in which 
the compounds of phosphorus are essential. But this element 
itself does not produce thought, any more than do the other ele¬ 
ments entering into the composition of brain and nerve cells. 

In the organic world phosphorus is generally combined with 
potassium as phosphate of potash, and as such it makes up the 
greater part of the mineral contents of the seeds of plants and the 
muscular tissues of animals. All the organs and tissues of the 
animal body are to a considerable extent chemical combinations 
of phosphates and various proteins. The bulk of phosphorus, how¬ 
ever, in vertebrate animals is contained in the skeleton. In the 
body of a normal man, weighing about 150 pounds, there are 
about thirty ounces of phosphorus, of which twenty-seven ounces 
are in the bones, a little over two and one-half ounces in the mus¬ 
cular tissues and about one-quarter ounce in the brain and nervous 
system. In cases of prolonged fasting the necessary amount of 
phosphorus is largely contributed by the bones, while the brain 
remains almost intact. 

The water-free substance of muscles or flesh contains about 
four per cent of mineral matter, of which nearly two-thirds consist 
of phosphate of potash. Likewise, the water-free substance of 
seeds, such as cereals, pulses and nuts, shows from one to three 
per cent mineral matter, of which about one-half is composed of 
phosphate of potash. The accumulation of phosphorus in the 
nuclei-proteids of seeds and muscular tissues justifies us in con- 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


135 


eluding that this element is a strong stimulant in the growth and 
development of new tissues, due largely perhaps to its great oxidiz¬ 
ing powers. In this respect phosphorus is counterbalanced by sul¬ 
phur, which plays the part of a regulator, protecting the organ¬ 
ism from over-stimulated growth. The relation of phosphorus and 
sulphur in our foods is therefore worthy of careful attention. 

Sulphur is found in the elementary state, mixed with earthy 
matter in volcanic districts, the chief supply being derived from 
Sicily. Considerable quantities also are mined now in Utah, 
Nevada and California. In combination sulphur is widely diffused 
in the form of sulphates and sulphides. Sulphur is a yellow, 
brittle, solid substance, having neither taste nor odor. It is in¬ 
soluble in water and nearly so in alcohol. It melts at 239° F. and, 
if heated to 500° F., burns with a blue flame into sulphur dioxide 
(S0 2 ). Its specific weight is about 2. 

In the organic world sulphur is built in the protein molecule 
of the plant from the sulphates taken from the soil. It is chiefly 
taken up by the animal organism in the form of protein, and 
secreted for the most part in the highest oxidized condition as 
sulphuric acid, derived from the splitting up and oxidation of the 
protein molecule. In this form, combined and neutralized by 
alkalies, it is again ready to begin the cycle of life, by forming 
organic sulphur compounds in plants. 

Sulphur is a constituent of the hemoglobin of the blood, where 
is also serves as an oxidizing agent. It is noteworthy that, accord¬ 
ing to analyses, the animals requiring more oxygen have likewise 
more sulphur in their hemoglobin. Four atoms of sulphur in 
the hemoglobin of the horse, six in that of the dog, and nine in 
that of the chicken, combine with two of iron. Sulphur enters into 
the composition of albumen, gelatin, etc., in all of the tissues. It 
is one of those elements that make up the natural resisting power 
of the body, as the organized sulphuric acid salts have a cleansing 
and antiseptic influence in the alimentary canal. 

All organic building material contains phosphorus and sulphur 
at the same time, although in very different proportions. The 
phosphates (the combinations of phosphoric acid with the basic or 
alkaline elements) serve preeminently the purpose of giving the 
actual impulse to growth. This is explained by the fact that we 
find phosphate of potash in all seeds which are intended to 


136 


RATIONAL DIET 


give birth to new organisms. The seed that is put into the soil 
has, above all things, to grow as rapidly as possible, so that it can 
reach out in both directions, to send its tiny roots downward and 
small stem and leaves upward so that they may absorb further 
nourishment from earth and air. Seeds, in order to give the 
embryo plant every chance for growth, contain, therefore, com¬ 
paratively little sulphur. Likewise, in the animal body those parts 
which are intimately connected with growth show a marked pre¬ 
ponderance of phosphorus over sulphur. Thus we find that the 
skeleton contains a large amount of phosphate of lime and mag¬ 
nesia, the muscular tissues, phosphate potash, and the brain and 
nervous system, lecithin. While in the blood the proportion of 
sulphur to phosphorus is 1 to 2, it is, in the muscular tissues and 
brain, about 1 to 65. 

Every impulse in nature, in order that it may not continue un¬ 
restricted, must be to a certain extent counteracted. It is in this 
manner that phosphorus and sulphur supplement each other. 
The easily inflammable phosphorus represents the centrifugal 
force; the somewhat inert sulphur, the centripetal force. All vital 
processes in nature ultimately rest on this principle of contrariety, 
arising from the different chemical affinities of the elements, as ex¬ 
plained by Mendeleeff’s periodic law. As a clock is regulated by 
a pendulum, so our body needs a regulating factor which gives 
the whole system a degree of balance. It is for this reason that 
normal blood plasma and blood serum have about equal quantities 
of phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid salts. This wise arrange¬ 
ment of nature prevents an unimpeded growth of those nerve fila¬ 
ments which terminate in the mucous membranes. The sulphuric 
acid salts of the blood coming, by means of the capillaries, in con¬ 
tact with the nerve terminations control the action of the phos¬ 
phoric acid salts contained in the latter. In the processes of 
metabolism, which are always carried on by means of the electricity 
conveyed by the nerves, the sulphur of the blood takes hold of 
part of the oxygen which otherwise would combine wholly or to 
a large extent with the phosphatic nerve-fat (lecithin), pro¬ 
ducing a too rapid oxidation of the latter and consequent nervous 
disorders. Sulphur must always keep the balance in the body. 
Many diseases of the nervous system are due chiefly to the unbal¬ 
anced proportion in which the elements of sulphur and phos- 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


137 


phorus are supplied in the usual foods (princially cereals and 
meat). Such conditions as mental irritability, neurasthenia, ab¬ 
normal sexual desires, insanity, etc., are very much aggravated by 
an excessive amount of phosphoric acid. Furthermore, an over¬ 
supply of phosphorus and nitrogen in our diet, with a simultaneous 
deficiency of sulphur and sodium, lead to abnormal tissue forma¬ 
tions, such as polypi, tumors, elephantiasis, cancerous growths, 
etc. There are many pathological conditions which may appear 
to the uninformed physician as being entirely heterogeneous, but 
which in reality have the same source, viz., an insufficient supply 
of sulphur, sodium and calcium in foods, with a preponderance of 
phosphorus and nitrogenous compounds. For instance, obesity, 
asthma, rheumatism, diabetes, etc., are ofttimes merely different 
symptoms of one cause—the inadequate supply of sulphur, iron 
and calcium. These elements, supplied in natural foods, are the 
essential basis of normal albumen of the blood or hemoglobin. On 
the condition of the latter depends the capacity for absorption of 
oxygen in the organism, and, consequently, perfect oxidation. 

Many diseases, which hitherto have been ascribed solely to the 
accumulation of uric acid in the system, are really caused by the 
consumption of foods which are too rich in phosphoric acid and 
deficient in sulphur. This is the case with all foods which abound 
in nucleo-proteids (although they may contain but very little uric 
acid), such as milk, cheese, eggs, nuts and cereals. These foods 
should never be taken as an exclusive diet, but always in small 
quantities, properly balanced with fruit and vegetables rich in 
sulphur to counteract the excessive amount of phosphoric acid 

salts. 

The following table, which gives the proportion of sulphur and 
phosphorus in the most frequently used food-products, will be of 
special interest to the student of dietetics: 

Proportion of Organic Sulphur and Phosphorus in Foods 


Horseradish 

1 : 

0.25 

Carrots 

1 

2. 

Cabbage 

1 : 

0.65 

Pineapple 

1 

2.15 

Beets 

1 : 

1.30 

Apples 

1 

2,20 

Spinach 

1 : 

1.50 

Celery 

1 

2.20 

Cauliflower 

1 : 

1.50 

Bananas 

1 

2.20 

Radishes 

1 : 

1.70 

Figs 

1 

2.30 

Chestnuts 

1 : 

1.80 

Cocoanuts 

1 

2.30 

Blood 

1 : 

2. 

Oranges 

1 

2.35 



138 


RATIONAL DIET 


Proportion of Organic Sulphur and Phosphorus in Foods 


Lettuce 1 

Potatoes 1 

Grapes 1 

Pears 1 

Onions 1 

Swiss chard 1 

Asparagus 1 

Parsnips 1 

Tomatoes 1 

Grapefruit 1 

Strawberries 1 

Plums 1 

Apricots 1 

Lemons 1 

Almonds 1 


2.40 

2.60 

2.70 

2.70 

2.70 

2.80 

3. 

3. 

3. 

3.30 

3.90 

4. 

4. 

4. 

10.50 


(Continued) 

Peas 

Beans 

Barley 

Oats 

Peanuts 

Human milk 

Meat 

Seafish 

Rye 

Haddock 

Cottage cheese 

Cow’s milk 

Corn 

Rice 

Wheat 

Eggs 


1 : 10.50 
1 : 11.40 
1 : 12 . 

1 : 14. 

1 : 23.50 
1 : 24. 

1 : 27. to 100 
1 : 34. 

1 : 36. 

1 : 38. 

1 : 40. 

1 : 40. to 90 
1 : 56. 

1 : 100 . 

1 : 100 . 

1 : 100 . 


A cursory reading of this table will reveal the fact that those 
foods which constitute the bulk of the usual dietary—cereals, pulses, 
dairy products, meat and fish—are low or entirely deficient in 
sulphur and comparatively righ in phosphorus; while fruit, and 
especially green-leaf vegetables, show a far better proportion 
of these two elements, coming nearer to that of normal blood. 
The great dietetic and hygienic value of fruits, vegetables and 
herbs, w T hieh consists principally in their comparative richness in 
the blood-building elements, iron, calcium and sulphur, is not yet 
fully realized. They are still regarded as mere ornaments or 
accessories to the ordinary diet with its surplus of meat and fari¬ 
naceous foods. Moreover, in the average kitchen, vegetables are 
so irrationally prepared that their beneficial properties are almost 
entirely lost. 

Considering the nutrition of man in the light of above facts, 
we find an explanation for many diseases which arise from faulty 
metabolism—diseases which are hardly noticed in the beginning, 
but which become only too apparent in the course of time; and then 
years of the strictest hygienic living and self-denial are required 
to eradicate, or, at least, to alleviate them. It is small wonder that 
people seek vicarious atonement in patent-medicines, serums and 
drugs, which promise instant relief. 

The excessive use of white flour products in occidental coun¬ 
tries as the fundamental cause of abnormal formation of tissues, 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


139 


cancerous and nervous diseases, asthma, obesity, diabetes, etc., 
finds its correlative in the more or less exclusive fish and rice 
diet of the oriental countries, as the source of leprosy, beri-beri, 
etc. Almost every civilized nation has its characteristic diseases, 
arising from faulty nutrition. Thus we find gout and rheumatism 
predominant among the meat-eating northern peoples, white pella¬ 
gra is found in the southern European countries, chiefly in Italy, 
where people live on macaroni, maize, cheese and wine. 

The polaric distribution of sulphur in plants should also be 
considered. During their growth this element is carried to the 
stems, leaves and skins of fruits and seeds, corresponding to the 
accumulation of sulphur in the skins, sinews, hair and feathers 
of the animal body. Nature here follows a definite object. Sul¬ 
phur, like silicon, has a good insulating power which holds the 
electricity of the body together, preventing its premature and too 
rapid dissipation, and at the same time giving all those parts of 
the body containing it, softness, elasticity and pliability. 

Sulphur can, of course, exert its beneficial influence only when 
it is taken in organic form. The inorganic compounds of sulphur, 
as they are found in mineral waters, or used as preservatives, 
are always detrimental to the system. 

Silicon, or Silicium (Si), is found in nature very abundantly 
as silicon dioxide or silica (Si0 2 ) in the form of rock-crystal, 
quartz, agate, sand, etc. It exists also in the form of silicates, 
wdiich are silicic acid in which the hydrogen has been replaced by 
metals. Most of our common rocks, such as granite, porphyry, 
basalt, feldspar, mica, etc., are such silicates or a mixture of them. 
Small quantities of silica are found in spring waters, as well as 
in vegetable and animal substances. Silicon resembles carbon both 
in physical and chemical properties, and belongs to the same group 
of elements. (See Mendeleeff’s periodic table.) In its elementary 
state it forms steel-gray octahedrons with a specific weight of 2.5. 

In the organic w r orld silica is most effective as a protective agent 
against chemical disintegration and putrefaction. The element 
has, therefore, a strong antiseptic action, being a safeguard against 
epidemic diseases. The mineral matter from healthy muscular 
tissues contains at least two per cent silica, which is also found to 
a considerable extent in hair, feathers, nails and claws. In veg¬ 
etable foods the silica is combined with cellulose, and forms the 


140 


RATIONAL DIET 


skin of fruits and vegetables and the outer coats of cereals. In 
white flour, also cornmeal, polished rice, etc., this coat has been 
removed in the form of bran. This deficiency of silica gives rise 
to many diseased conditions and makes the system easily suscepti¬ 
ble to injurious influences. Silica, being a good insulator, warms 
the blood by insulating and keeping together the electricity im¬ 
parted through its salty constituents. Silicon is found particularly 
in the connective tissue. As nerve substance contains nearly the 
same amount of silica as the albumen in the blood, this element 
forms, as it were, a connecting link between blood and nerves, 
preserving their proper relations. Many diseases of the blood and 
nervous system may be traced to a lack of silica in the food. 

The pancreas is especially rich in this element, its mineral con¬ 
stituents showing about twelve per cent of silica. It is found com¬ 
bined with fluorine in the enamel of the teeth. Human hair shows 
from 0.10 to 0.23 per cent of silica. Hair needs for its growth 
both silica and sulphur. If they are not given in sufficient quanti¬ 
ties to the blood, the hair cannot be nourished properly and falls 
out. The skin, and likewise the walls of all cells, contain a con¬ 
siderable amount of silica, which has been placed there by nature 
to prevent a too rapid radiation of the body’s heat and electricity. 
We, therefore, see that silicon, like the other elements, has certain 
physiological functions to perform, which makes its presence in 
our food and, consequently, in the different parts and organs, in¬ 
dispensable. The amount of silicon in the body may be small, 
compared with other elements, but its importance as an essential 
building element of the body should never be overlooked. The 
origin of so-called infectious diseases must be largely attributed 
to a deficiency of this element in the system, as the average diet 
of man usually lacks silica. The ash, for instance, of the outer 
coats of the rice kernel contains about eighty per cent of silica, 
which is to a large extent lost by the peeling, and, further, by the 
polishing process. In the same manner silica is lost in the artificial 
preparation of all cereal foods. In peeling fruit we also lose an 
appreciable amount of organic salts. Wherever it is possible, 
fruits should be eaten with the skin which must, of course, be 
properly masticated. 

Chemical analysis shows that very valuable elements are con¬ 
tained in all skins of cereals, fruits and vegetables. As an in- 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


141 


stance of the great difference to the health resulting from the use 
or rejection of the skins, an incident may be given that occurred 
in India, as told by an Indian officer. 

A regiment was stationed in a part of the country where 
grapes were the chief article of food. The officers, one after an¬ 
other, became so sick that they were unfit for service. Since, 
at the same time, the remarkable fact was noticed that the troops 
were all well, a commission of inquiry was instituted. It was 
found that while every trooper in eating the grapes swallowed the 
skins, the officers followed the fashionable habit of rejecting them. 
The officers were then ordered to masticate and swallow the skins. 
This was done, and they quickly recovered. 

Chlorine is chiefly found in sodium chloride or common salt 
(NaCl), either dissolved in water (small quantities in almost all 
spring water, larger quantities in some mineral waters, and the 
greatest amount in sea-water), or as solid deposits in the interior 
of the earth as rock salt. It may be isolated by chemical processes, 
when it appears as a yellowish-green gas, having a disagreeable 
taste and an extremely penetrating and suffocating odor, acting 
energetically upon the air passages, producing violent coughing 
and inflammation. Chlorine is about two and a half times heavier 
than air and is soluble in water. There are but few elements which 
have as strong an affinity for other elements as chlorine. The act 
of combination between chlorine and other elements is frequently 
attended by the evolution of so much heat, that light is produced, 
—or, in other words, combustion takes place. 

In the vegetable kingdom chlorine occurs mostly in the form 
of potassium chloride and sodium chloride. Small quantities of 
sodium chloride applied to the soil have a beneficial action on 
various crops, and, to an extent, increase their resistance to 
drought and rust fungi. When the amount of sodium chloride 
reaches a certain degree of concentration in the soil, however, in¬ 
jurious effects will be observed. A solution of 1.8 per cent sodium 
chloride will prevent the germination of wheat. The assimilative 
process in the leaves is also retarded by a surplus of sodium 
chloride in the soil. Other injurious effects are the decrease of 
sugar in the sugar beet, and of starch in the potato. An over-sup¬ 
ply of potassium and magnesium chlorides also depresses the starch 
content of the potato. 


142 


RATIONAL DIET 


Chlorine, in the form of sodium chloride, plays an important 
part in the animal organism. It assists in the formation of all the 
digestive juices, principally the gastric juice, which contains two 
per mille hydrochloric acid. The mineral matter of the blood 
serum is largely made up of sodium chloride which favors and 
sustains the generation and conduction of electric currents. About 
one-third of the ash of the white of hen’s eggs consists of sodium 
chloride. Milk also contains a large amount of chlorine, which 
perhaps may be explained by the fact that the chlorides are useful, 
not only in the construction of the organs but also in the prepara¬ 
tion of the digestive secretions. 

Chlorides are likewise important for renal secretion. They are 
necessary for the elimination of the nitrogenous products of metab¬ 
olism. This is shown by the fact, among others, that diuretics 
also increase the excretion of chlorine. The fact that sodium 
chloride is a normal constituent of the human body, being present 
to the extent of 6.5 per mille in the blood, has given it special im¬ 
portance in the eyes of the people, and has lent credence to many 
exaggerated popular notions regarding its curative effects. When¬ 
ever the inorganic salt is ingested, it draws fluid from the tissues 
rapidly and there results an increased discharge of urine, greatly 
exceeding the quantity of water ingested. This produces the sen¬ 
sation of thirst which leads to the excessive imbibing of liquids 

- 

and consequent weakening of the kidneys. The inorganic salt 
also diminishes the secretion of hydrochloric acid, causes peptones 
to become deficient, and disturbs the absorption of sugar. 

Chloride of sodium added to food is not, in any case, essential 
to health, but is treated simply as a foreign body, the system 
being able to utilize as food only the chloride which exists as 
organic combinations in food stuffs. The amount of sodium 
chloride contained in a natural form in vegetables and fruits is 
quite sufficient for our needs. 

A table giving the amount of chloride in various food products 
will be found in the appendix of this book. 

Fluorine exists chiefly in nature as fluorspar and calcium fluor¬ 
ide (CaF 2 ). Traces of fluorine occur in many minerals, in some 
waters, and also in the bones of mammals and in the enamel of 
the teeth. Fluorine was scarcely known until 1887 in the ele¬ 
mentary state, because all attempts to isolate it were frustrated 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


143 


by the powerful affinities which this element possesses, and which 
render it difficult to obtain any material for the manufacture of 
a vessel which is not chemically acted upon, and therefore de¬ 
stroyed by fluorine. The method now used for liberating fluorine 
depends upon the decomposition of hydrofluoric acid by a strong 
current of electricity in an apparatus constructed of platinum 
with stoppers of fluorspar. To prevent a too rapid corrosion of 
the platinum vessels, the decomposition is accomplished at a tem¬ 
perature below the freezing point. Fluorine is a gas of yellowish- 
color, having a highly irritating and suffocating odor, and possess¬ 
ing affinities stronger than those of any other element. 

Fluorine exists in small quantities in nearly all plants and 
animals. It is chiefly found as fluorid of calcium in the bones of 
teeth of men and mammals, but the exact amount has not yet been 
ascertained. It has also been detected in the blood of birds and 
mammals, as well as in the yolk of eggs and in milk, also in the 
outer coats of grains. 

We must, therefore, conclude that it is an essential element of 
the organism. It assists in building the enamel of the teeth, and 
is needed in the development of the skeleton, as no normal bony 
substance can be formed without fluorine. The iris of the eye, 
which reflects the whole organism, also requires fluorine. A 
deficiency of the element in the lens of the iris is followed by 
ophthalmic diseases. The artificial preparation of our food stuffs 
by which the greater part of the fluoride of calcium is removed 
or made inert, also the inadequate supply of this substance to the 
soil, is one of the principal causes of premature decay of the teeth, 
curvature of the spine, and early weakening of the eyesight. 

Iodine is a non-metallic element, found in small quantities in 
many plants and animals. In its free state the element is soluble 
in ether and alcohol, but only slightly in water. It possesses an 
acrid burning taste, and a neutral reaction. According to the 
degree of the application, it stains the skin yellow, brown or black, 
and its action is painless, provided the skin is intact. Upon mu¬ 
cous membranes iodine acts as a powerful irritant. Taken as a 
drug it escapes chiefly through the kidneys, the skin and the 
salivary glands. 

Very little is known yet about the action of organic iodine upon 


144 


RATIONAL DIET 


the physiological functions, but it seems to be a natural stimulant 
to the nutritive processes of the body and the circulatory system. 

The element is present in the thyroid gland to the extent of 
about two per mille of the dried weight of the gland, or about ten 
to fifteen milligrams in the entire gland. It is essential for the 
formation of an organic iodine compound—thyrosin—which regu¬ 
lates some of the metabolic functions of the organism. A lack of 
iodine prevents the formation of thyroxin and causes enlargement 
of the thyroid gland, or goitre. This disease is common in certain 
districts of the European Alps and the Rocky Mountains. It is 
probably caused by an insufficient and one-sided diet, and a lack 
of iodine in the soil. As sea water contains iodine, it is naturally 
present in all sea plants, such as alga, kelp, Irish moss, etc. 

According to Dr. Bouriet, a French chemist, iodine occurs in 
small quantities in the following vegetable and animal products: 


Iodine in 1000 Parts of Fresh Substance 


Asparagus 

0.240 

Potatoes 

0.010 

Garlic 

0.210 

Leeks 

0.120 

Pineapple 

0.310 

Pears 

0.017 

Carrots 

0.134 

Grapes 

0.010 

Mushrooms 

0.172 

Rice 

0.170 

Cabbage 

0.210 

Lettuce 

0.012 

Strawberries 

0.170 

Tomatoes 

0.023 

Green kidney beans 

0.320 

Artichokes 

0.017 

Dry white beans 

0.014 

Oat flour 

0.009 

Green peas 

0.080 

Wheat flour 

0.007 

Sorrel 

0.120 

White bread 

0.000 

Fruits and foods very rich in 

starch contain but little iodine. 

According to the same 

author, foods of animal origin contain the 

following amounts of this element 

in 1000 parts of fresh substance. 

Eel 

0.80 

Oyster 

1.37 

Anchovy 

0.95 

Lobster 

1.78 

Grey shrimp 

5.91 

Whiting 

0.31 

Crab 

1.82 

Fresh cod 

1.23 

Roach 

1.38 

Fresh salmon 

1.40 

Smoked herring 

1.57 

Trout 

0.08 


Another element, bromine, often accompanies iodine, but it is 
not known as yet whether it performs any definite physiological 
functions in the body. 


THE ACID-FORMING ELEMENTS 


145 


Arsenic, which exists in the earth as sulphide of arsenic, is 
found in minute traces in animals and vegetables. Until recently 
it has not been considered essential to their well-being. The 
French chemist, Bertrand, however, as a result of numerous ex¬ 
periments, has arrived at the conclusion that arsenic, instead of 
being a constituent of a few tissues only, is a constant element of 
the living cell. He finds arsenic present in the eggs of all fowls, 
in exceedingly small quantities, the yolks generally containing 
twice as much as the white. 

In 1900 Dr. Gautier, of Paris, established the fact that arsenic 
in a very small proportion enters into the constitution of the outer 
tissues, the epiderm, hair, nails, thyroid gland, brain and breast. 
There are some very small traces of it in other parts of the body. 
Arsenic appears to resemble in its chemical affinities those of phos¬ 
phorus. 

Copper exists in the earth in metallic form, and enters into 
the composition of many vegetable and animal tissues, although 
the quantity is very small and it is not yet known whether its 
presence has any special significance. 


CHAPTER XIV 


The Vitamins 

The word vitamin is derived from the Latin word vita, mean¬ 
ing “life,” and amins or amino acids, which are component 
parts of protoplasm. A free translation of the word would be 
“life substances,” or complex organic compounds, upon which the 
growth and perpetuation of plants and animals depend. Their 
presence was first discovered by Casimir Funk in 1912, and their 
effect upon growth has been especially studied by Osborne and 
Mendel, and McCollum and Davis. Like the enzymes they seem 
to be composed principally of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitro¬ 
gen, but their atomic and molecular construction is not yet under¬ 
stood. 

According to our present knowledge only plant life can synthe¬ 
size or build up vitamins out of simpler combinations. We must 
emphasize the fact, however, that vitamins cannot perform their 
functions if the food products are deficient in the organic salts 
necessary for organic growth. In other words, they must be chem¬ 
ically united with other food substances in such organic com¬ 
pounds as we find in wholesome, natural foods. The chemical and 
biological actions of the vitamins must always be studied in close 
connection with those of the organic salts, if ice would gain any 
clear understanding of the problems of nutrition. 

So far three distinctive vitamins have been discovered: 

Fat soluble “A” or anti-rachitic vitamin 
Water soluble “B” or anti-beriberi vitamin 
Water soluble “ C ” or anti-scorbutic vitamin 

Dr. Herbert Evans and Dr. K. Scott Bishop, of the University 
of California, claim to have discovered another vitamin called 
“X,” which exists in lettuce, alfalfa and egg yolk and will prob¬ 
ably take its place as the fourth established vitamin. There are 
probably many more vitamins in natural food but until the dis¬ 
covery of vitamin “X,” only three had been commonly demon¬ 
strated and accepted. 


140 


THE VITAMINS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS 


147 


Two vitamins “D” have also been announced recently. Dr. 
E. V. McCollum has so designated an anti-rachitic factor which 
is different from vitamin “A.” Casimir Funk gave the letter 
“D” to another vitamin that yeast contains in addition to “B.” 
This second yeast vitamin does not seem to play a part in mam¬ 
malian physiology. Neither of these vitamins is fully accepted 
as yet and it seems probable that the dietary factor “X” will be 
considered the fourth established vitamin. 

Vitamin “A” is found mostly in the green leaves of plants, 
such as spinach, lettuce, cabbage, alfalfa, clover, etc.; in tomatoes, 
carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow corn, green peas, etc.; also in 
butter-fat, egg yolk, palm oil, cod liver oil, in liver and kidney 
tissues and glandular organs in general. The solids of spinach 
and tomatoes contain more of vitamin “A” than butter-fat. It 
is essential to the normal growth of the child, or the young of 
animals, and a deficiency of it will produce stunted growth, 
emaciation and rachitic conditions. 

Vitamin “B” is contained principally in plant foods, the seeds 
of cereals, peas, beans and other legumes in their natural state, 
and when not impoverished by modern milling processes. Citrus 
fruits furnish a considerable amount of vitamin “B,” more than 
do the deciduous fruits. Nuts contain a considerable quantity, 
and, like vitamin “A,” it is also found in the green leaf vegetables. 
An insufficient supply of the vitamin “B,” as for instance in a 
diet consisting largely of peeled or polished rice, results often in 
a specific nervous disease known as beri-beri. In order to main¬ 
tain health in young and old, a constant supply of ‘ ‘ B’ 9 is required. 

Vitamin “G” is present in largest amounts in fresh fruits; to 
a less extent in raw vegetables and tubers; in moderately small 
quantities in milk and meat. Among fruits the best sources are 
oranges and lemons; among the vegetables, various turnips, car¬ 
rots, rhubarb and tomatoes. Baked potatoes contain moderate 
quantities. An absence or insufficient supply of vitamin “C” pro¬ 
duces scurvy. 

Of the three vitamins, “C” seems to be the least stable and is 
easily affected by heating. A liberal amount of fresh fruits and 
vegetables, therefore, is always necessary to maintain health. 
Sufficient quantities of vitamin “A” may be obtained from 
steamed vegetables in which all the organic salts are preserved. 


148 


RATIONAL DIET 


“B” occupies an intermediate position, and while raw cereals can¬ 
not be recommended as ideal food for man, they should at least be 
used in their natural form, such as whole rice, whole barley, whole 
wheat bread, whole corn meal, etc. 

According to the Daily Science News Bulletin, in experi¬ 
ments which have been made with rats, the Vitamin X does not 
seem to affect the growth of the individual rat, but its lack does 
prevent the mother rat from having offspring. Drs. Evans and 
Bishop have found that rats reared on the ordinary “purified” 
laboratory diet, consisting of casein, cornstarch and lard, with a 
little butter-fat and salts, even when given ample quantities of 
the growth-producing vitamins A and B, are sterile without ex¬ 
ception. To quote from the bulletin (the italics are mine) : 

“ ‘It is startling to observe that fat, slick-coated rats fed on. 
this diet are sterile, but that when they are fed fresh green leaves 
of lettuce they immediately are able to produce full and normal 
litters of young,’ explained Dr. Evans here today where he is con¬ 
ferring with officials of the U. S. Bureau of Animal industry on 
details of his work in cooperation with governmental dairy experts. 

“The experiments that demonstrated this new factor in food 
were carefully carried out so as to eliminate the possibility that the 
non-productiveness of the rats had any other cause. In most cases 
sister rats from the same litter were used. The one fed on the 
laboratory diet without lettuce remained consistently sterile, while 
the one that received the lettuce ration was always productive. 
By switching the diet, the opposite results could be obtained. 

“The government experts in animal husbandry at the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture here are extremely interested in Dr. Evans , 
results and they believe that factor X may explain cases of infer¬ 
tility in cattle that have puzzled them in the past. Experiments 
at the Beltsville, Md., experimental farm are planned.” 

Anybody with a thorough understanding of the problem of 
nutrition knows that all animals, if fed on denatured foods in 
which the elements essential for growth are lacking, will lose their 
fecundity, just as carnivorous animals do in captivity, if fed 
mostly on lean meat, for the necessary organic salts are contained 
in the blood, bones and entrails. That the rats recovered rapidly, 
if given green leaf vegetables, rich in sodium, calcium, magnesium 
and iron, the principal bone and blood building elements, confirms 
the vital importance of these foods in building a strong and healthy 
body, a fact which has long been known by students of dietetics. 


THE VITAMINS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS 


149 


We cannot extract vitamins. Even if it were possible to do so, 
we cannot utilize them separately as body-building material, 
any more than we can dissolve an apple into its inorganic elements 
and try to live on them. Vitamins, as already stated, are active 
only when they exist in combination with other elements in nat¬ 
ural food. 

The vitamins themselves supply the body with neither energy 
nor tissue building substances. They enable the body to utilize 
the energy-producing components of our foods, and, if offered in 
an organic form, regulate the assimilation of the tissue-building 
elements. They are active in extremely minute quantities, and, 
in that respect, they resemble the enzymes in their catalytic actions, 
producing chemical changes without undergoing any change what¬ 
ever in themselves. 

The vitamins, to be sure, are indispensable in the process of 
nutrition and growth in the vegetable, as well as the animal king¬ 
dom. But far more important than the vitamins are the mineral 
elements, or organic salts, in our food, especially in their relation 
to each other in the normal growth of the body, and in the per¬ 
formance of the various physiological functions of the organism, 
and, last but not least, in the preservation of its health and power 
of resistance to injurious influences. 

The vitamins have furnished the medical profession with a 
clue, whereby they can gradually work towards a more sensible 
and natural method of nutrition and prevention of disease, as 
evidenced by numerous magazine articles and books, which have 
recently appeared. It is regrettable, however, that commercial¬ 
ism is taking undue advantage of this situation and is now exploit¬ 
ing the vitamin theory. “Specially prepared’’ vitamin foods, 
mostly in the form of tablets, also different kinds of yeast, are 
being widely circulated, claiming miraculous effects, and seem to 
find a ready sale to a credulous, misinformed public. 

Drs. McCollum and Simmonds have recently investigated a 
number of such commercial preparations, in regard to their alleged 
potency as sources of water soluble “B” or vitamin “B,” the 
anti-beri-beri, or anti-neurotic vitamin. Concerning the labels 
they make the following statement: 

4 ‘An examination of the labels on the containers of the vitamin 
preparations which we have studied, suggests at once that their 
promotion for therapeutic purposes represents a repetition of the 


150 


RATIONAL DIET 


‘patent medicine’ propaganda which has for so long been inflicted 
on the American public. Thus, the same general symptoms have 
been used in labels of sarsaparillas, blood-purifiers, kidney remedies, 
remedies for female weaknesses, etc., reappear as conditions for 
which the vitamin preparations are said to be specific remedies. 

“The claims set forth on the labels, of the medicinal values of 
these preparations, are extravagant and misleading. They do not 
contain the vitamin ‘B’ in concentrated form, as they are repre¬ 
sented to do. The marketing of these preparations represents an 
attempt, and, unfortunately, a successful one, to substitute a com¬ 
mercial vitamin propaganda for the nefarious patent medicine 
business. ’ ’ 

Dr. Casimir Funk, discoverer of the vitamins, when recently 
interviewed, also expressed the opinion that the American public 
would do well to curb its tendency towards making a fad out of 
the practical application of vitamins to daily routine. He said 
in part: 

“Science is very much in the dark yet as to the composition 
and functions of vitamin. The combined research has taught us 
that all we do know about the subject is of tremendous importance. 
But it is not detracting from the valuable place that vitamins hold 
in the list of food elements to say that we are just beginning to 
understand them a little. 

“Reputable scientists do not countenance the efforts that are 
being made to deceive the public into believing that the time lias 
come when it can be said satisfactorily that such and such a result 
wfill follow the practice of taking certain proprietary vitamin prep¬ 
arations. 

‘ ‘ To put it briefly, the people who are promoting such prepara¬ 
tions do not know what they are talking about. And they cer¬ 
tainly are leading the public into deception. If their claims for 
these products could be substantiated, science would greet them 
with open arms. There are several hundred scientists experiment¬ 
ing, but, as yet, vitamins have not been isolated, much less con¬ 
centrated. 

“Besides, vitamins so far have proved of value only where 
there have been cases of very distinct vitamin deficiency. When 
the diet is complete, we do not know yet whether an additional 
supply of vitamins is needed or even advisable. No one has estab¬ 
lished the quantity of vitamins necessary for maintenance of the 
average healthy person. 

“There is nothing mysterious about vitamins. They are just 
food constituents that should be in our diet, just as other food 
properties should be found there too. 

“I do not know what use, practical or otherwise, will be 


THE VITAMINS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS 


151 


made of isolated vitamins when we have succeeded in separating 
them. I could not even venture a guess—no one can know. I 
confidently predict that the time will come eventually when we 
shall succeed in such isolation. But no one has succeeded in doing 
it yet. 

“What would he the use in preparing all our foods artificially, 
so long as Nature is producing her own foods in sufficient abun¬ 
dance to supply an increasing populationf It would he folly even 
to think of turning ourselves into domestic manufacturers and con¬ 
sumers of self-made food so long as Nature gives us enough.” 
(The italics are mine.) 

In regard to milk Dr. Funk said: 

“The contents of vitamins in milk have been greatly exagger¬ 
ated. There are other foods that are far richer in vitamin content 
than is milk. We are by no means dependent upon milk alone for 
our supply of vitamins. 

‘‘ The vitamin content in both mother ’s and cow’s milk is essen¬ 
tial for infants. But vitamins are not any magical possession of 
either milk. They exist only because the mother or the cow has 
assembled them from the food she has eaten prior to production 
of the milk. ” 

It is evident that the quality of mother’s milk, or that of any 
animal, depends largely upon the quality of food consumed. If 
the food is impoverished, naturally the milk cannot supply the nec¬ 
essary elements for growth. We cannot recommend cow’s milk 
unqualifiedly without knowing how the animals were fed. 

After all it is reasonable to assume that nature has built the 
vitamins principally for the growth and perpetuation of plant life 
itself. Without the vegetable kingdom, the great store house of 
potential energy, stored up by the sunlight, the animal kingdom 
could not exist. The vitamins in the seeds serve primarily for the 
germination and development of the seed into the embryo plant, 
while the vitamins in the roots and fruits all have their special 
physiological functions to perform. In the nutrition of man and 
the animal the vitamins are only of secondary importance. 

The chemistry of life is very complex, and in order to come 
to a deeper understanding of it, we have to consider all of the 
elements in their chemical affinities and reactions, their polariza¬ 
tion in the different parts of the plant, and again in the animal 
body, especially during the period of growth. The discovery of 
the vitamins, important as it is, can never furnish us with a sat- 


152 


RATIONAL DIET 


isfactory explanation of all the wonderful phenomena of organic 
life. It is only one link in the chain of the science of nutrition. 

In discussing the vitamins, let us always remember these great 
and outstanding facts: the human race has survived in the strug¬ 
gle for existence for millions of years, developing its superior men¬ 
tal and physical qualities, while subsisting on natural foods, such 
as nature in her infinite wisdom had prepared, unblemished by 
the hand of man. On the other hand, flour and rice mills, sugar 
refineries, slaughter houses, and especially elaborate cookery, all 
characteristic features of modern civilization—are constantly turn¬ 
ing out devitalized and demineralized foods, with the result that 
our standard of health has been lowered to an appalling degree. 

Nearly every year a new discovery in physics or chemistry 
is heralded as a panacea for all evils to a suffering humanity. A 
few years ago it was radium, and now it is vitamins. There is only 
one way to secure your daily ration of vitamins. Eat simple, nat¬ 
ural foods, chiefly fruits and green leaf vegetables, with a few 
nuts, or whole grain products, and you will be well nourished, 
without the addition of yeast cakes or vitamin tablets. 


CHAPTER XV 

The Soil and Its Relation to Food and Health 

As all our food comes directly or indirectly from the soil, the 
fact should be emphasized that the chemical composition of the soil 
is a most important factor in the production of a healthy vegeta¬ 
tion. What has been said about mineral elements in relation to 
the human body, holds equally true in the case of plants and trees. 
These often suffer from the want or excess of proper minerals in 
the soil, which naturally results in poor crops and diseased con¬ 
ditions. We should learn to recognize the fact that the soil must 
contain all the essential constituents of plant life in an assimila¬ 
ble form, in order to produce a normal plant containing all the 
required elements in the right proportion; and that man is, there¬ 
fore, absolutely dependent on the soil to produce such foods as 
give him the best health and the greatest power of resistance. 

The present systems of fertilization are still governed by many 
erroneous ideas. The German scientist Hensel was one of the 
first to point out the mistakes made in agriculture. A consider¬ 
able quantity of phosphoric acid and of potash is found in the 
ashes of all seeds. As these do not exist in the air and must, there¬ 
fore, be furnished by the soil, it was natural that the teachers of 
agriculture announced that potash and phosphoric acid, including 
nitrogen, are the most essential fertilizers, and the more phos¬ 
phoric acid the better. But this conclusion is erroneous and has 
caused much injury. The fact was overlooked that, during the 
time of vegetation, phosphoric acid is so uniformly distributed 
that it does not amount, on the average, to more than one-tenth 
of the total mineral constituents. The peculiarity that phos¬ 
phoric acid, during the process of ripening, accumulates in the 
seeds to such an extent that it constitutes not merely ten, but 
from thirty to fifty per cent of the total mineral matter, is ex¬ 
plained by the fact that the phosphorus passes from the stems, 
stalks and leaves into the seeds, leaving the straw very poor in 
phosphoric acid. Taking the average of seventy to eighty analyses 
of German field crops, which also include the roots, stems and 
leaves, we find that phosphoric acid constitutes about one-tenth 


153 


154 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the mineral constituents; while potash, soda, lime, magnesia, 
iron, silica, sulphuric acid, chlorine and fluorine, constitute the 
remaining nine-tenths. Furthermore, potash and soda are present 
on the average in the same amount of weight as lime and magnesia, 
these four bases amounting to about eight-tenths of the whole 
quantity of ashes. 

According to these facts a fertilizer which would satisfy the 
natural demand of supplying the minerals necessary for the de¬ 
velopment of plants should contain eight parts of potash, soda, lime 
and magnesia to one part of phosphoric acid. These mineral bases 
are found in every primitive rock and when perfectly decomposed 
and judiciously mixed with humus, make ideal fertilizers. In 
Germany an increasing number of farmers are experimenting 
successfully with this new method of fertilizing which will be ap¬ 
preciated more and more and gradually supersede the old methods. 
The common commercial fertilizers and manures supply plants 
with too much forcing material and too much phosphoric acid, 
substances which favor the propagations of all kinds of injurious 
insects. Vegetables and fruits grown on a soil treated chiefly 
with manure may be larger, on account of the over-supply of 
ammoniacal compounds, which have the tendency to draw water, 
but they are deficient in the important minerals which give firm¬ 
ness and consistency to the tissues and prevent them from pre¬ 
maturely decaying. When the early agriculturists established 
their theories of fertilization on the mineral constituents of seeds 
with their high contents of phosphorus, potash and nitrogen, they 
did not consider that the different parts of the plant require dif¬ 
ferent proportions of elements than those which are found in the 
seeds alone. Hensel saw what some day all the world will see, 
viz., that plants require a certain well-proportioned quantity of 
all the necessary mineral elements for their healthy growth, just 
as much as man and animals do; that insufficiently or wrongly 
nourished plants, like animals, fall a prey to diseases more quickly 
than those specimens which are well built, as a result of an ade¬ 
quate supply of the essential organic salts. 

Hensel’s views on the proper feeding of plants invite a com¬ 
parison with the usual methods of human nutrition which are still 
advocated by the majority of the medical practitioners, who con¬ 
cern themselves very little with real prevention of disease. Neu- 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


155 


rastlienics and consumptives are advised to eat heartily of meat, 
eggs and other protein foods which easily enter the circula¬ 
tion but overload the system with nitrogen and phosphate of 
potash, which still further increase the acidity of the blood. The 
consequence is an increased stimulation of the nervous system 
and irritation of the whole organism. This irritation, which is 
mistaken for an improvement, soon leads to complete exhaustion 
and debility. 

That nitrogenous foods are strengthening is a grave error full 
of fatal consequences for the nutrition of the plants as well as of 
animals and men. The constantly increasing number of diseases 
is largely the result of impoverished foods raised on impover¬ 
ished soil. Germs and microbes are the effect and not the cause 
of this deplorable condition. They cannot live and propagate on 
sound and healthy tissues, any more than a crop of wheat can be 
raised on a solid granite rock. Man is learning slowly and pays 
for his deviation from the laws of health and right living by dis¬ 
ease and needless suffering. 

Sixty years ago Baron von Liebig wrote in his work “Natural 
Laws of Husbandry,” with the characteristic, penetrating thought 
of genius: 

“No intelligent man who contemplates the state of agriculture 
with an unbiased mind, can remain in doubt, even for a moment, 
as to the stage which husbandry has reached in Europe. We find 
that all countries and regions of the earth, where man has omitted 
to restore to the land the conditions of its continued fertility, 
after having attained the culminating period of the greatest den¬ 
sity of population, fall into a state of barrenness and desolation. 
Historians are wont to attribute the decay of nations to political 
events and social causes. These may, indeed, have greatly con¬ 
tributed to the result; but we may well ask whether some far 
deeper cause, not so easily recognized by historians, has not pro¬ 
duced decay and downfall of nations, and whether most of the 
exterminating wars between different races may not have sprung 
from the inexorable law of self-preservation. It may seem to 
the superficial observer that nations, like men, pass from youth 
to age, and then die out; but if w^e look at the matter a little more 
closely, we shall find that, as the conditions for the continuance 
of the human race which nature has placed in the ground, are very 
limited and readily exhausted, the nations that have disappeared 
from the earth have dug their own graves by not knowing how to 
preserve these conditions. Nations like China and Japan which 
know how to preserve these conditions of life have not died out. 


156 


RATIONAL DIET 


“Not the fertility of the earth, but the duration of that fer¬ 
tility, lies within the power of the human will.” 

In regard to nitrogenous manures the same scientist says: 

“Upon a field excessively rich in nitrogenous food there is a 
kind of rankness in the early growth like that produced by a 
hot-bed; the leaves and stalks are weak and watery, because of the 
want of time in their over-hasty growth to absorb simultaneously 
from the soil the necessary quantity of substances, such as silicic 
acid and lime, capable of communicating to their organs a certain 
solidity and power of resistance against those external causes which 
endanger their existence. The stalks fail to acquire the necessary 
stiffness and strength, and are always liable to be laid, especially 
upon lime soils. 

“This injurious influence of an excess of nitrogenous food is 
particularly remarkable in the case of the potato plant; for if it 
grows upon a soil excessively rich in nitrogenous food, and the 
temperature should suddenly fall and wet weather supervene, the 
plant is often attacked by the so-called potato-disease; while a 
neighboring potato field merely manured with ashes shows no trace 
of it. 

“Many thousand farmers who have not the remotest concep¬ 
tion of manures, apply guano, nitrates, and other fertilizers to 
their fields with fully the same effect and with even the same skill 
as others who possess such information; nor do the latter derive 
any manifest advantage from their knowledge, because it is not 
of the right kind. For example, the chemical analysis of manures 
is rather calculated to ascertain their purity, and to determine 
their price, than as a means for making us acquainted with their 
effect upon the land.” 

Professor Frank M. Keith of Medford, Massachusetts, who has 
made many investigations in regard to deterioration of the soil 
and the increase of plant diseases, comes to the same conclusion as 
Dr. Julius Hensel of Germany. In a highly interesting and in¬ 
structive article, which appeared some time ago in the Sunday 
Herald, Boston, Mass., Professor Keith said in part: 

“For many years the agriculturist has been confronted with 
the problem of just why his crops do not increase even though he 
has used unlimited supplies of manures and fertilizers. In most 
cases he does not get anywhere near the crops that had been taken 
from the same land twenty or thirty years before. 

“Just why this condition should exist the farmer can’t explain, 
and in many cases is so thick-headed he won’t listen to those who 
would be only too glad to help him out. 

“When the virgin soil was tilled by the early settlers, no 
manure or fertilizers were used at all, and large crops were pro- 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


157 


duced. Why? Because the conditions were as nature had made 
them and had not been disturbed. It is a scientific fact that when 
vegetables, etc., have been growing for years on the same soil, those 
vegetables have continually sapped the soil of a large percentage 
of available minerals. No amount of manures or commercial 
(three part) fertilizers can possibly restore the soil to anywhere 
near its virginal condition, because they do not contain the ten 
minerals necessary to plant life in sufficient quantities to sustain 
life. ’" 

We have been taught for years by some of the most learned 
professors in many of our state agricultural colleges that the three 
elements necessary to be added to the soil to produce maximum 
crops are nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid, the proportions 
varying according to the crop to be grown. And because of these 
teachings, our farm crops are on the decrease and will continue to 
decrease until such a time as those professors wake up from years 
of purely theoretic reasoning and begin to work along practical 
lines, or when the farmer will take the initiative himself without 
the assistance of the agricultural college. 

For a long time potash was declared to be one of the most es¬ 
sential ingredients of all commercial fertilizers. Until the World 
War we were told that to grow crops without the constant use of 
additional potash was impossible. But when the war started and 
potash was not obtainable from abroad, we were informed that just 
as good crops could be grown without its addition to the soil. This 
last fact should have been discovered years ago. 

The agricultural chemist shows us that the ashes of all veg¬ 
etables and plants contain potash, iron, sulphur, magnesia, lime, 
manganese, phosphorus, silicon, soda and chlorine, and that the 
plants cannot be grown to perfection with the omission of any one 
of these elements. If this is so—and we know it is—how did the 
plants get these minerals? Surely not from the air. They must, 
then, have been obtained from the soil. But the question naturally 
arises as to how these minerals could possibly be absorbed by the 
plant. 

There are in the soil, provided plenty of humus (disintegrated 
vegetable matter) is present, humin and humie acids which, with 
the heat, moisture, freezing, and thawing, cause an erosion in the 
small stone particles of the soil, which have gradually been liber¬ 
ated, thereby making them available for plant food. When the 


158 


RATIONAL DIET 


different minerals are liberated and come in contact with the humus 
and humic acids, there are very minute bacteria being bred, and 
it is these that change the minerals into a liquid substance 
which can be taken up by the plant. To the unthinking, happy- 
go-lucky farmer this statement will seem almost unbelievable. But 
it is self-evident to those who have been making a careful study of 
plant conditions and are anxious to know everything possible about 
the normal development of plant life. 

Some agriculturists who have experimented successfully with 
certain methods of mineral fertilization when confronted by state¬ 
ments of so-called scientific investigators have not, except in a 
very few cases, had the courage of their convictions, and have 
given up their claims, despairing of ever putting them into prac¬ 
tical operation. 

There lias been great waste of time and effort in the name of 
science to determine the available plant foods in soils. The as¬ 
sumption has been that plant foods in soils are of two distinct 
kinds, “available” and “unavailable,” and that the determination 
of “unavailable” plant food would show not only the crop pro¬ 
ducing power, but the fundamental fertilizer needed to improve 
the soil so that it could produce crops. 

The question should not be “How much is available?” but 
rather “How much can be made available during the season?” 
Or, to put it even more plainly, we must make plant food avail¬ 
able by practical and not theoretical methods of liberation, by 
converting insoluble compounds into soluble compounds, which 
are accessible to the growing plants. Our Federal Bureau of Soils 
of the Department of Agriculture at Washington in 1908 made 
the following statement, which was met by considerable opposition 
and criticism: “The soil is the one indestructible immutable asset 
of the nation. It is the one resource that cannot be exhausted, 
that cannot be used up. It may be impaired by abuse, but not 
destroyed.” 

Some of our greatest scientists firmly believe that soils do not 
wear out. On the other hand, our agricultural colleges, not all, 
but many of them, teach the theory that soils do wear out. The 
old theories regarding infertility have arisen from the fact that 
sufficient minerals have not been available in ordinary soils. Not 
until the Federated Bureau of Soils took up the study in a sys- 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


159 


tematic manner, and established the fact that organic matter is 
quite as important as minerals, was this known; but fertilizers 
too rich in nitrogen and acids, such as stable manure, are injurious 
to the plant, and, consequently, to men and animals. Nitrogen, 
potash, phosphoric acid act only as stimulants, producing quick 
and rank growth, wholly lacking in strength and stability. 

Mineral, or finely pulverized rock, may work more slowly than 
some of the widely advertised nitrogen stimulants, but it works 
surely and the soil is improved by its use. 

When some great modern chemist commits a stupendous blun¬ 
der, his erroneous conclusions are heralded throughout the world 
and accepted as gospel truth. The French chemist Boussingoult, 
for instance, evolved the theory that plants required a supply of 
nitrogen in the soil and thousands of agricultural scientists have 
ever since repeated the same error and induced farmers to buy 
millions of dollars worth of fertilizers containing nitrogen com¬ 
pounds. The “learned’’ agriculturists contend, moreover, that 
plants require an additional supply of phosphoric acid. These 
“scientists” forget, however, that the required supply of phos¬ 
phoric acid is already stored in the roots, stalks, and leaves before 
the grain ripens, and that it is conveyed to the kernels during the 
ripening process of the grain. 

Plants require very little phosphoric acid, and any excess is 
more injurious than beneficial. The practice of excessive potash, 
phosphoric acid, and nitrogen fertilization has caused cattle and 
human beings to become victims of disease. Systematically, al¬ 
though not knowingly and intentionally, they have prepared the 
way for the spreading of influenza, diphtheria, cancer, diabetes, 
consumption, typhoid fever, anthrax, glanders, cattle plague, foot 
and mouth diseases, rinderpest, etc., with the result that America 
is at the present time paying to its chemical “scientists” more 
than $600,000,000 for poisonous drugs for human beings, over 
$100,000,000 for equally injurious concoctions for their cattle, and 
more than $300,000,000 for doctoring the soil with fertilizers which 
cannot produce sound and wholesome products. 

In Europe agricultural “scientists” recommended fertilizing 
vineyards with stable manure. Shortly after that the phylloxera 
made its appearance and destroyed innumerable vines. Then the 
“scientists” made millions by selling spray to destroy the pests. 


160 


RATIONAL DIET 


Irrational, incomplete fertilization with commercial fertilizers, 
overloaded with phosphates, or with manure, which likewise 
abounds in phosphoric acid, is the cause of insect pests such as 
pin worms, the caterpillars of the conchylis ambiguella, as well as 
the peronospora viticola. Phosphates are a vital necessity for the 
propagation of all parasites. Tests made with fungilice and worms 
show that the residue of their bodies after combustion consists 
almost entirely of phosphate of potash, but contains only traces of 
sulphates. This leads to the conclusion that an increase in phos¬ 
phates means an increase in parasites, while sulphur in combina¬ 
tion with other important minerals will check all parasite life. 

Curiously enough, our agricultural teachers consider this 
abundance of nitrogen the most essential factor in ascertaining 
the value of manure as a fertilizer. They are, however, completely 
deluded, though it is true that the ammonia contained in stable 
manure causes a luxurious vegetation, thus making it apparently a 
substitute for lime, carbonate of soda, calcareous earth and sul¬ 
phate of soda, insofar as it frequently produces the same growth 
as these mineral salts. Such vegetables and fruits, however, will 
decay quickly. Intelligent fertilization will prevent the loss of 
many millions of dollars’ worth of vegetables and fruits. 

Stable manure is detrimental to the keeping quality of the 
soil’s products, because it is not a polarically unified combination. 
Mineral fertilizers are beneficial, because they produce a unified 
mineral soil which will bring forth sound, wholesome crops. It 
is a well known fact that ashes possess disinfecting properties and 
will to a certain extent neutralize manure or any foul, ill-smelling 
matter. Volcanic ashes in their most powerful combination will 
produce vigorous plant growth, and, indirectly, strong and healthy 
people. Vegetables and fruits grown in such a soil will make 
pure alkaline blood in animals and men. 

These statements are corroborated by Sampson Morgan, an¬ 
other pioneer of sane agriculture, of Tenterden, Kent, England, 
who published some interesting and instructive essays on mineral 
fertilization entitled “Clean Culture” and “The New Soil Sci¬ 
ence.” In 1873 Mr. Morgan made his first experiments in cultiva¬ 
tion. He planted medium sized potato seeds on the level ground, 
covered them up with fine soil, gave the latter a sprinkling of plas¬ 
ter of paris, which contains lime, then covered them with rich 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


161 


soil and finally obtained a yield of forty tons an acre. The speci¬ 
mens were enormous, and perfectly free from disease. For forty 
years he has continued his experiments when opportunities pre¬ 
sented themselves, enabling him to put “Clean Culture’’ upon a 
sound, practical and scientific basis. Mr. Morgan says in part: 

“ 1 Clean Culture’ is of universal application. It would work 
wonders in every part of the world. It would in time make all 
soils healthy, and all people proof against disease. 

“Generally, it will assure the creation and development of co¬ 
lossal new industries, through the peaceful and profitable utiliza¬ 
tion of countless billions of tons of non-stimulating plantfood, at 
present lying unutilized on every hand. 

‘ ‘ I have proved that granite dust, the bon-fire ash of the world¬ 
forming conflagration, furnishes all the potash crops need. I have 
also proved that the millions spent by cultivators upon chemical 
and ‘forcing’ plant foods have practically been wasted, besides 
often causing much harm. I have further proved that many bodily 
ailments are mainly due to the continued consumption of defi¬ 
ciency foods, produced with manure devoid of the mineral fur¬ 
nished in the primary rocks in a perfect form. 

“In 1915 I broke all records for apples and potatoes for the 
world, thanks to ‘Clean Culture.’ The apples were grown on a 
young dwarf tree planted two years and specially pruned. It bore 
twenty large fruits. They measured on the average fourteen 
inches in circumference and weighed four ounces, though gathered 
six weeks before they had finished swelling. This was equal to 
over 100 bushels per acre within two years of planting. Other 
trees, in the same experiment plot, two years planted, bore from 
30 to 100 fruits each. The potatoes grown on my mound sys¬ 
tem produced from eighteen to thirty-six potatoes to a root, weigh¬ 
ing nine to ten pounds, equal to fifty tons to an acre. The samples 
were very clean and of good grade. The largest were six inches 
long, three broad, and weighed from ten to sixteen ounces each. 
Two boxes of those products exhibited in London and inspected by 
large crowds were admitted the greatest hit of the season. 

“In 1917 I again broke all records in apple production. On 
one dwarf tree four years planted on a surface space of only eight¬ 
een inches by seven, were twenty-two good sized apples, beauti¬ 
fully colored, growing apparently in one cluster. Several of Cox’s 
Orange Pippin trees had from 80 to 120 large, richly colored 
specimens. An early culinary variety, five feet in height, includ¬ 
ing the year’s new wood-growth, had 250 apples, 150 were thinned 
out, 40 were used when well grown and the remaining 60, when 
fully developed, were from 9 to 10 inches in circumference, though 
none were grown for size. A tree, on a surface space of 17 by 10 


162 


RATIONAL DIET 


inches, showed an unbroken surface of 17 fine apples. It had 60 
fruits even within 32 inches of the ground. 

“Several of the trees bore 80 half-pound apples each. One 
produced 90 such. A Peasgoods Nonsuch, 4 feet high, bore 26 
fruits, each 12 to 13 inches round, weighing on an average of 13 
ounces each. The trees, which produced a bushel each, show the 
possibility of getting apples at the rate from 150, 300 and even 
600 bushels an acre from dwarf trees. An Essex grower claims 
to have got 300 bushels from an acre of cordon trees. I had cor¬ 
dons carrying 30 apples, weighing 7 pounds, at the rate of 600 
bushels an acre. Has a bushel of apples from a dwarf tree, four 
years planted, ever been equalled? I doubt it. I challenge any¬ 
one to repeat the performance with a manure-fed tree. Specimens 
were sent to leading representatives in literary and scientific cir¬ 
cles and brought me flattering commendations. Bushel boxes of 
the record apples were exhibited in six large cities including Lon¬ 
don. 

“In 1918 I broke all records for potatoes with a 500-foot row, 
digging fine samples at the rate of 65 tons an acre, a success never 
achieved by any other experimentor. 

“When I introduced ‘Clean Culture’ it was abused by sceptics 
and parties interested in perpetuating the bad, unscientific old 
system. But as the result of the magnificent appreciation ex¬ 
pressed for it by those who put it to test, the experts, writers in 
trade magazines, specialists, chemists and scientists are coming 
round gradually to my views, though they do not commend my 
work. 

“American investigators say there is something in the soil of 
a deleterious nature which at present they do not understand, but 
that it is of an organic nature. Clean Culture explains the mys¬ 
tery. The deleterious organic matter is the poisonous soil-souring 
carbonate of ammonia which is contained in stable manure. I 
was the first to claim and prove that uncontaminated humus, 
green manure humus, is vital to the health of the good bacteria, 
and without it a healthy and productive soil is utterly impossible. 

“Until I dealt with the subject of foods and feeding in con¬ 
nection with soil bacteria, no one ever thought about the subject. 
The greatest experimentalists on the Continent putting it to test, 
were forced to the conclusion that I was right concerning the true 
food of the soil bacteria. 

“Without the provision of uncontaminated organic matter and 
ash, the maintenance of fertility is impossible. Clean Culture 
mineralized humus is the last word that can be said in respect to 
perfect production, the elaboration of healthy fruitful tissue and 
permanent fertility. 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


163 


“The men who introduced condensed extracted chemical food 
for plants, predicted they would feed man on chemical food. But 
the wheat and fruit forms still remain.’’ 

Dr. H. Lindlalir of Chicago, one of the pioneers of Nature Cure 
in the United States, gives in his “Vegetarian Cook Book,” the fol¬ 
lowing interesting and instructive data: 

“In our institutions for the healing of the sick we begin the 
treatment of patients by treating the soil of our gardens and farm 
lands with mineral fertilizers. In connection with our Elmhurst 
Health Resort we have been cultivating sufficient garden and farm 
land to furnish our institutions from spring to fall with vegetables 
grown on highly mineralized soil. For many seasons now we have 
saturated the land with wood ash, sifted coal ash, finely pulverized 
lime rock, pulverized phosphate rock, iron filings and with small 
quantities of ground rock salt. 

“Wood ash is to the soil what milk is to the human body. It 
contains all the minerals in the vegetable kingdom in concentrated 
form and in the right proportions. When any kind of vegetation 
is burned, all the negative carbonaceous and protein elements are 
dissipated, while the positive alkaline bases of iron, lime, sodium, 
potassium, magnesium, manganese, silicon, and also the earthy sul¬ 
phates and phosphates, remain in the ash. 

“Sifted coal ash also is a good mineral fertilizer, though not 
as valuable as wood ash. Coal originally was vegetable matter 
which contained minerals in the live organic form. Coal ash is 
rich in iron, sulphur and silicon. 

“Lime rock from Elmhurst quarries, specially pulverized for 
fertilizing purposes, contains about fifty per cent lime and four 
other valuable minerals. 

“The value of pulverized phosphate rock as a mineral fertilizer 
is now generally recognized by our agricultural stations. The 
addition of this fertilizer alone has, in many cases, doubled and 
trebled the crops from land that was supposed to be completely 
exhausted. 

“Iron filings decompose or rust in the soil and enter into chem¬ 
ical combinations suitable for assimilation by plant life. 

“Black loam that has a tendency to acidity can also stand a 
moderate amount of ground rock salt. Too much of it would burn 
the tender plant. We have applied to our garden land from two 
hundred to three hundred pounds per acre. 

“The effect of this continued, systematic, mineral fertilizing on 
the products of our gardens has been little short of marvelous. 
Every season our vegetable gardens excite the admiration of those 
who have the pleasure of seeing them. 


164 


RATIONAL DIET 


“During a period of four years we have grown over forty 
varieties of vegetables and, when the weather was seasonable, with 
splendid results as regards quantity and quality/ ’ 

How important it is to pay proper attention to the condition 
and chemical composition of the soil as the source of our food sup¬ 
ply and in determining its quality, could be shown by many strik¬ 
ing examples. For instance, it has been found in Victoria (Aus¬ 
tralia) that cattle on certain pastures develop paralysis and other 
infirmities which can be cured by proper fertilization of the soil. 
In the United States in some areas it is impossible to maintain 
cattle in good condition until the forage is improved by suitable 
mineral fertilizers, which illustrates the fact that a deficiency of 
organic salts in plant tissues leads to nutritional disorders in 
animals, conditions which are often ascribed to infection by germs. 

Wrong fertilization and exhaustion of the necessary mineral 
elements of the soil is probably the cause of many failures in fruit 
crops and a larger number of nutritional diseases than has been 
hitherto thought. For years mankind has accepted the idea that 
fertilizing must be done (to use plain English) with filth—animal, 
bird or human excrement, reinforced with nitrates and phosphates. 
But it will be found eventually that despite all such manure, the 
land is slowly but surely losing its fertility; that insect pests in¬ 
crease, and, what is worse, that the quality of the soil’s products 
is deteriorating. Intelligent soil culture will, therefore, be one of 
the most important problems with which the growing population 
of the earth will have to deal, for the health and welfare of nations 
depends on rational nutrition. 

Investigations along these lines are of such vital importance 
that the government of every civilized country ought to take up 
the extensive study of the subject. The United States Department 
of Agriculture has made a large number of analyses of food prod¬ 
ucts, but the specific study of the mineral elements and their rela¬ 
tion to each other in the healthy growth of plants and animals has 
been neglected. All nations are spending vast sums for the con¬ 
stant increase of armies and navies and for instruments of destruc¬ 
tion. If they devoted but a hundredth part of this money to the 
advance of agricultural food chemistry and the science of nutri¬ 
tion, there would soon be no more need for territorial conquests, 
and a more amiable relationship between the nations would result. 


CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL 


165 


The World War, from whose effects our superficial civilization 
is still suffering, was nothing but the outcome of our present sys¬ 
tem of commercialism, which pervades both modern industry and 
agriculture. Everything is raised or manufactured for quick profits 
and the accumulation of fortunes, exciting the rivalry of individuals 
and nations. The quality of the products is sacrificed to the 
quantity of goods, which must be disposed of at all costs. 

In the intelligent and intensive culture of the soil, in the rais¬ 
ing of wholesome and durable products, in making the land acces¬ 
sible to all—in rational living, mankind will yet find its salvation 
from famine, disease and war. 






PART II 

FOODS: THEIR ORIGIN, NUTRITIVE AND 

HYGIENIC VALUE 


AND 

Their Relation to Health and Disease 








CHAPTER I 


Man's Natural Diet 

Modern science enables us to discover the natural diet for man, 
first, by revealing his true place in evolutionary processes of nature; 
secondly, by studying the qualities and chemical compositions of 
the different articles of food, and their functions and effects in 
human nutrition. 

According to their bodily structure and their natural capacity 
to provide, digest and assimilate food, comparative anatomy divides 
the mammalia, to which man belongs, into four distinct classes: 
the omnivorous, the carnivorous, the herbivorous and the frugiv- 
orous. Man’s strong resemblance to the anthropoid apes, which 
subsist mainly on fruits and nuts, places him in the frugivorous 
class. In fact, all the great anatomists, Sir Charles Bell, Dr. 
Richard Owen, Dr. William P. Carpenter and Baron Cuvier, have 
demonstrated that man is not only adapted by anatomical structure 
to a diet of fruits and nuts, but that man’s disregard for the 
natural law of his being is a source of endless suffering and disease. 
This fact, which was recognized already by the ancient sages, 
Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Plutarch, Seneca and others, has 
also been confirmed by the great universal law of evolution, which 
Lamarck, Darwin, and Haeckel have scientifically established, and 
which has thrown much light upon the origin of life and its develop¬ 
ment on our planet. 

As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, the French 
scientist, Lamarck, by his geological researches came to the mo¬ 
mentous conclusion that all the existing species of plants and an¬ 
imals had gradually developed from the lowest and simplest forms 
to their present complicated organisms; and that immense periods, 
perhaps many millions of years, had been necessary to effect these 
great transformations. 

Lamarck was the first who clearly showed in his Zoologie 
philosophique that the history of organic life upon our planet 
is recorded in the sedimentary rocks of its surface, and that the 
strata of these rocks are the leaves in the great book of nature in 


169 


170 


RATIONAL DIET 


which she unmistakingly reveals her wonderful works of creation. 
In the different strata of rock we find different fossils or petrifac¬ 
tions of animals and plants, and ascending from the interior to the 
surface of the earth, we find an almost uninterrupted gradation 
from the lowest to the highest form of organic life. According to 
the time in which these changes on the earth’s surface took place, 
the different layers are called primary, secondary, tertiary and 
quaternary rocks or strata. 

The lowest forms of vertebrate animals, the fishes and amphib¬ 
ians, are found in the primary rocks. In the secondary strata 
appear fossils of reptiles, birds and mammals; in the tertiary 
strata, nearest to the surface we find remains of the higher organ¬ 
ized mammals. While in the quaternary strata appear the traces 
of more modern forms of life. 

Between the development of animal and plant life throughout 
the ages exists a certain relation which is significant for the 
solution of the problem of nutrition. Plants assimilate the in¬ 
organic matter, or, in other words, organize water and the tissue 
salts, as found in the earth and air, into vegetable substance. 
Animal life, being of a higher order, must have its original ele¬ 
ments in a more refined, or vitalized condition. 

All life originated in the w r ater, which in the primordial age 
almost entirely covered our planet. The lowest animal forms 
were nourished by the lowest plant forms; the ancient fishes, by 
the sea plants of that period; the monsters of the carboniferous 
period, by the coarse and luxuriant vegetation now stored up in 
the coal beds; while the higher order of plants, especially the 
fruit trees, belong to the era of man and his immediate progenitors. 
The fact that the majority of our flower-bearing plants and fruit 
trees are unknown in a fossil state, clearly demonstrates their 
recent origin, which must have been simultaneous with that of 
man. 

Thus by reviewing all the sciences bearing upon this subject, 
we are forced to the conclusion that since man is the most highly 
developed animal, he can thrive best on such foods as contain the 
nutritive elements in the purest and most perfect form. Indeed, 
the original home of man is also the home of the fruit trees, the 
largest portion of our best known varieties being indigenous to 


MAN’S NATURAL DIET 


171 


the south, spreading over the globe simultaneously with the wander¬ 
ings of the human race. 

It would appear that the food of all animals was originally 
derived from the vegetable kingdom, which is the storehouse of 
all nutrition, as the animal organism cannot assimilate directly 
the soil elements. Some naturalists even maintain that no animals 
were originally carnivorous, but that the evolution of this 
class of animals was brought about by scarcity of proper plant 
food in a later geological period, and that still later, probably for 
the same reason, man was forced by famine to subsist on flesh food. 

But as the fact remains that in the process of evolution, this 
temporary modification in man’s diet had hardly any influence on 
his anatomical structure, this change must have occurred at a com¬ 
paratively recent date of man’s existence on this planet and 
apparently under the most adverse conditions. The importance 
of this fact and the conclusions which may be derived from it 
merit much more consideration than they have been given. Evi¬ 
dence accumulates to support the contention that man with 
his perfected anatomy has lived on the earth for untold ages, 
and that natural cataclysms and not evolution developed 
the change from a frugivorous to an omnivorous diet. It is quite 
probable that the so-called glacial period, or age of ice, which 
according to geologists occurred some twenty or thirty thousand 
years ago and subjected organic life to altogether new conditions, 
also induced man to deviate from his original and natural diet 
after he had subsisted on fruits, nuts and succulent plants for 
many thousands of generations. 

Although the exact time of man’s prehistoric existence is 
more or less speculative, his gradual development from his animal 
predecessors into an intellectual being, unquestionably covered a 
period of at least a million years. It is also certain that the human 
race was widely spread over the globe when for the first time 
enormous ice and snow fields reached far down into the present 
temperate zones. 

Geological research has succeeded in tracing man’s ancestry 
back to the middle and even to the early part of the tertiary period 
when the climate and configuration of the continents were alto¬ 
gether different from what they are now. All progressive anthro- 


172 


RATIONAL DIET 


pologists agree that man’s early evolution took place in the south 
of Asia where a now sunken continent, called Lemuria, stretched 
from Madagascar to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, New Guinea and 
West Australia. Ceylon and the many smaller islands appear to 
constitute the remains of this once uninterrupted land mass, 
from which the human race gradually spread over the entire planet. 

Man is by no means the direct descendant of the now existing 
types of apes, but evolved from man-like types long extinct. The 
oldest human relics yet discovered have been reconstructed by 
scientists into a primate called pithecanthropus erectus, otherwise 
the erect ape-man; and he belonged to an age so remote that no 
other trace or record of this creature has been found. The erect 
ape-man lived, as nearly as science can estimate, one million years 
ago. 

The relics consist of a skull, thigh bone and a few molar 
teeth which were found in Java by a Dutch surgeon, in 
1891, under fifty feet of strata. After a reconstruction of the 
fragments, the most reasonable conclusions deducible were that 
they belonged to a being less developed than man, and somewhat 
higher than an ape. He was apparently between these two types 
and belonged to a species from which the human race was evolved 
during a geological period when Java was probably a part of 
the Asiatic mainland. Before these oldest traces of mankind 
came to light, other human relics had been discovered in Central 
Europe, but their age was negligible compared with that of the 
ape-man of Java. 

Antedating the remarkable geological and topographical changes 
upon the surface of our planet, and during a vast period of time, 
a uniformly warm climate existed over the entire earth, even 
within the arctic zones, evidenced by many fossil remains of 
tropical animals and plants found far in the north. There were 
probably no alternations of seasons in the primordial world. Day 
alternated with night, but month succeeded month in almost un¬ 
broken sameness. In fact, as late as the carboniferous period, 
the globe apparently was nowhere colder than the present sub¬ 
tropical zones, or below a mean temperature of 60 degrees F. 
The bondage of winter did not impede the growth of vegetation, 
and animals of fabulous size and form developed, indicating 
wonderful productiveness of nature in that far remote age. 


MAN’S NATURAL DIET 


173 


Thus in a climate of eternal spring, when snow and ice were 
unknown, primeval man lived for thousands of years, and the 
tropical forests furnished all the necessities of life in abundance. 
With but little effort, bread-fruit, bananas, dates, nuts, etc., were 
secured in endless variety throughout the year. It was needless 
to invent tools and to discover fire, so long as nature provided 
lavishly all the necessities of life. 

These paradisiacal conditions came to an abrupt end with the 
beginning of the glacial period, and man was compelled to 
pass through the school of want and deprivation. The ante¬ 
diluvian continent extending to the south of Asia began to si nk 
below the level of the sea. The rising waters of the Indian 
ocean formed the Persian gulf, the Red and Mediterranean seas, 
and opened the Straits of Gibraltar in the west. The waters of 
the Pacific Ocean, in breaking up the old continent, left the 
numerous East Indian islands, and separated North America from 
Asia by forming the Behring Straits. With this transfiguration 
of the continents, also began the differentiation of climatic zones. 

Man, hemmed in by an endless sea at the south and the 
enormous ice fields of the glacial period at the north, was sub¬ 
jected to abject want. Millions of creatures must have perished 
by terrible earthquakes and inundations, and those who survived 
were forced into a remorseless struggle for existence. All these 
changes on the surface of our planet were precipitated within a 
comparatively short period of time, and naturally created entirely 
new conditions for animals and plants. While they do not appear 
to have developed new species, they considerably influenced the 
character and habits of those already in existence. 

Cave deposits and fossil remains indicate that pre-historic 
man originally migrated along the routes developed by the climatic 
and topographical changes of the glacial periods to which the 
Northern and Southern Hemispheres were alternately subjected. 
The shores of the Mediterranean in the west, and the coasts of the 
Pacific ocean in the east seem to have attracted our early ancestors, 
as they were barred from migration to the north by the high 
mountain ranges of the Himalayas. Further to the west, how¬ 
ever, they gained access more easily to the middle and western 
portions of Europe, where they found an inhospitable region 
of forests and swamps after the ice had melted. Here they 


174 


RATIONAL DIET 


were forced to contend with the mammoth, the bear, the cave-lion 
and other species of animals now extinct. These seemingly adverse 
conditions put man firmly on his feet, taught him the free use 
of his arms and hands, and developed his ingenuity and cranial 
capacity in the struggle to defend himself against those monsters 
of the forest. 

Cut off from the prolific tropical soil, a majority of the human 
race was compelled to resort to the use of many kinds of food 
hitherto repulsive, and dire want finally forced man to the slaughter 
of animals in order to provide himself with the necessities for his 
existence. It is very probable, therefore, that the use of flesh-foods 
originated during long periods of famine in the glacial era, and 
that it was during this time that man first became a hunter. 
The development of the hunter into a warrior followed as a 
natural consequence, since the different tribes were forced, because 
of scarcity of food, to contest for the spoils of the chase. 

Throughout all ages since the dawn of civilization, the truth 
has appeared conclusive to all great minds that, in the provision 
for man’s sustenance, it was not natural that he should devour 
his fellow beings, and thereby place himself on a level of beasts 
of prey. 

The consumption of flesh foods for many thousands of years 
may indeed have given to man certain carnivorous characteristics, 
yet his anatomical structure and physiological functions remain 
unchanged, which conclusively indicate that nature did not design 
him as a flesh-eating animal, and that sooner or later he must 
return to his rightful heritage—the products of the soil. 

Necessity soon taught man the secrets of agriculture and 
horticulture, and wherever these industries prevailed, one observes 
the dawning of real culture and the awakening of man’s higher 
intellectual and moral faculties that lift him so far above the animal 
world. We find, for example, that in the temperate zones where, by 
human skill and effort, the cultivation of fruits became most varied 
and abundant, the life of man is most progressive and prolific, 
and that his appreciation for the beautiful, the basis of fine arts, 
is best developed. 

The ultimate course of development, as man progresses from a 
savage to a civilized state, is certainly not in the direction of 
slaughtering animals for food. The ability to hunt and kill is 


MAN’S NATURAL DIET 


175 


naturally of a lower order than the ability to till the soil. The 
first steps toward civilization were in the displacement of the 
uncertainties of nomadic life by concentrated efforts in agriculture 
and tree planting. 

In reviewing the long march of evolution of the human race 
from the earlier part of the tertiary period up to the present, 
we conclude that for a vast period of time man subsisted on fruits 
and nuts—his natural diet—which were furnished abundantly 
by a virgin soil and a congenial climate. During the age of ice, 
w T hich occurred at a comparatively late period in the history of the 
organic world, the surface and temperature of the globe were com¬ 
pletely changed, and man w r as forced by necessity and want to 
take his food, at least in part, from the animal kingdom. How¬ 
ever, as his anatomical structure and physiological functions have 
become firmly established, it is natural that he should return to 
the diet which nature intended for him. 

The biblical allegory of the Garden of Eden would appear to 
have an historical background, and the more highly developed 
and thoughtful man of today will perceive that when nature drove 
our early ancestors from the tropical fields, and condemned them 
to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, she enlarged their 
opportunities for developing latent intellectual powers, and in the 
struggle for existence opened to their vision, new and grander 
fields of activity. 

In ignorance and want, man was forced to leave his early 
paradise. Through science, art and industry he will regain it. 
But, according to the laws of nature, there need be no danger 
of returning to the misery and savagery of previous ages, for the 
cultivation of this planet of ours has hardly begun, and vast 
treasures are still buried beneath its surface, awaiting a higher 
order of intellectual development and skill to unearth them for 
the common good of all. 


CHAPTER II 


Fruits 

Fruits, more than other products of the soil, receive the 
beneficent influences of light, heat and air, through which the 
electric and magnetic forces of the sun are transmitted. Fruits 
have, therefore, the highest rate of atomic cell vibrations of all 
foods, and while we cannot determine by chemical analysis this 
subtle power, we can feel, when eating fruits, their enlivening 
effects through our whole system. 

In the selection of our foods, fruits must be given the highest 
place as being most conducive to health and longevity. Fruits 
keep the alkalinity of the blood in a normal condition, while 
more concentrated foods, like cereals, pulses, cheese, meat and 
meat products are more or less acid-forming. The alkaline 
elements, which are chemically combined with the fruit acids, 
act as natural laxatives by promoting the action of the secretory 
glands. They also are indispensable in preserving the normal 
physical condition of the epithelium cells, upon which the proper 
functioning of the intestinal walls depends. Fruits supply es¬ 
pecially the elements of potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus 
in a highly organized form, and in this respect are far superior 
to cereal products. Figs, grapes, prunes, olives, and many va¬ 
rieties of berries are especially rich in organic iron compounds 
which we need daily to replenish the red blood corpuscles. 

Fruits are also excellent sources of vitamins “B” and “C,” 
the latter being chiefly contained in citrus fruits, a fact that 
emphasizes the importance of pure, sweet, orange juice, preferably 
unsweetened, as a valuable article of diet, and one of the best 
remedies for anemic conditions. 

The protein and fat contents of fruits, with a few exceptions, 
are low, and, while it is possible to live exclusively on a fruit diet, 
it is best to supplement this with a small amount of nuts or well 
prepared nut butters. For a week or two a so-called fruit fast 
is highly beneficial, because it helps to excrete toxins, and to 
reduce blood pressure. 


176 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


177 


Fruits are generally divided into three classes, according to 
the amount of fruit acid they contain, viz., acid, sub-acid, and 
sweet fruits. The chief fruit acids are malic, tartaric, citric, 
and oxalic acid. The fruit acids occur usually as acid salts of 
potassium, sodium or calcium, imparting an agreeable flavor to 
the juice, and adding a wholesome and stimulating variety to 
food. Malic acid is chiefly found in apples, pears, currants, 
berries, pineapples, grapes, and cherries; tartaric acid is charac¬ 
teristic of grapes; citric acid occurs especially in the juice of 
limes, lemons, grape fruit, oranges, currants, unripe tomatoes and 
gooseberries; oxalic acid is contained in small amounts in rasp¬ 
berries, tomatoes, grapes and currants, while only a trace is found 
in oranges, lemons, plums, and apples. During the process of 
ripening, the fruit acids are reduced as they are slowly trans¬ 
formed into sugar. 

Attention should be called to the fact that fruit acids are 
beneficial only in their organic form as acid salts. Artificially 
prepared or extracted acids can never produce the wholesome 
effects of those prepared by nature in the fruits, where they are 
combined with the alkaline elements. Avoid, therefore, artificially 
flavored and colored drinks, which are more or less injurious, and 
cannot replace the acid salts in their organic state. 

The principal sweet fruits are dates, figs, muscat grapes, and 
raisins; sub-acid fruits: apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, 
raspberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, persimmons, plums, and 
nearly all deciduous fruits. The acid fruits are oranges, lemons, 
grape-fruit, limes, pineapples, strawberries, loganberries, cran¬ 
berries, loquats and tamarinds. It is the sugar content of fruits, 
which is really transformed solar light and electricity, that makes 
them invaluable as a source of energy. Under the continuous in¬ 
fluence of the sun's rays, carbonic acid unites with water and forms 
various forms of carbohydrates, attaining in the easily soluble 
organic fruit sugars, their highest form of chemical synthesis. The 
sugar in fruits, and not animal protein, is nature’s great source 
of potential energy, which manifests itself in the increase of 
our endurance. Furthermore, in the process of digestion, ripe 
fruits—provided they are eaten by themselves and not added to 
a heavy meal—require only a small expenditure of nerve force. 
They are superior to starch-bearing foods that draw more heavily 


178 


RATIONAL DIET 


on our nerve force, thus overtaxing and gradually weakening the 
organs of digestion and assimilation. 

Scientific experiments have proved that fruit sugar is the 
most economical source of animal heat and energy, but one must 
always discriminate between sugar as it exists in fruits or succulent 
plants, and the refined sugar of commerce, or glucose made from 
corn starch. Although their chemical composition is similar, 
fruit sugar is intimately associated with basic elements that are 
essential in neutralizing the carbonic acid, arising from its oxida¬ 
tion in the system, while refined sugar, though it may act tem¬ 
porarily as a stimulant during exertion, cannot maintain the life 
processes of the body. When refined sugar is taken, the body 
cells are rapidly broken down to furnish the blood the necessary 
alkaline elements for removal of the acids, resulting from its 
combustion. This explains why the body when fed on proximate 
food principles, or devitalized foods, will break down sooner than 
when subjected to an absolute fast. 

While fresh fruits do not possess the high nutritive value of 
the more concentrated cereals, legumes or nuts, they are never¬ 
theless indispensable for maintaining health and vitality; and 
money spent on fruit is a good investment that will return to us 
ample dividends by increasing our vitality. If fresh fruits are not 
available, dried fruits should be used. In nutritive value the dried 
fruits are similar to cereals. The average amount of carbohydrates, 
mainly sugar, in dried fruits is about 62 per cent, while the aver¬ 
age amount of carbohydrates, mainly starch, in flour is 75 per 
cent; in bread only 50 per cent. Dried fruits are superior to bread 
in nutritive value, besides furnishing the necessary alkaline ele¬ 
ments, which are lacking in cereals. 

Unfortunately the great dietetic and hygienic value of fruits 
is not yet appreciated by the majority of people. Statistics show 
that fresh fruits make up only 3.8 per cent of the total amount 
of food consumed by the American people, and supply only 2.5 
per cent of the total carbohydrates. The total amount spent for 
food in the United States is seven billion dollars. Of this, only 300 
million dollars, or less than 5 per cent, are spent for fruit, while 
nearly 600 million dollars are spent for sugar and candy. Meat, 
dairy products, and cereals, all acid-forming foods, are consumed to 
the extent of 4 y 2 billion dollars, with the result that diseases of 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


179 


the digestive organs are constantly increasing. The production 
and consumption of fruits can be vastly increased, and, with 
better systems of distribution, can be made more available as soon 
as people understand that in fruits they receive food and medicine 
alike, while drugs and artificial sweets gradually undermine health 
and vitality. 

The daily per capita consumption of fruit in the United States 
is less than one cent; of refined sugar, candy, preparations arti¬ 
ficially sweetened, about four cents; of cereal products, mostly 
demineralized, the same amount; and for meat about eight cents. 
As compared with other foods, the amount spent for fruit is 
ridiculously small. If the per capita consumption would increase 
only to one pound of fresh fruit daily, or its equivalent of dried 
fruit, it would mean a yearly consumption of twenty million tons, 
or more than five times the present rate. But, with the increased 
use of fruits, the consumption of artificial sweets, cereals and meat 
would be reduced. This will involve a continuous campaign of 
education of the public, in which the growers and distributors of 
fruits should be especially interested, as this is the only way to 
create an increasing demand for their products. 

In temperate zones the season for fresh fruits is comparatively 
short, but a large portion of each fruit crop is dried, either in 
the sun, where climatic conditions are favorable, as in certain parts 
of California, or in dehydraters by means of hot air currents. 
The process of dehydrating, if performed scientifically, is to be pre¬ 
ferred to sun-drying, as it requires a considerably shorter time, 
and does not expose the fruit to dust and insects. Furthermore, 
if done economically, it is not more expensive than the sun-drying 
process. 

Attention should be called to the fact that sulphur is used in 
the drying process of many fruits, such as apples, apricots, peaches, 
pears, seedless raisins, etc., to obtain a brighter and more uniform 
appearance, making the article attractive to the eye at the expense 
of its wholesomeness. If we consider the fact that highly sulphured 
fruits can be preserved with a water content as high as 30 per 
cent, while unsulphured, evaporated fruits show on an average a 
moisture content of no more than 15 or 20 per cent, we must see 
that the latter are really more economical, besides being free from 
deleterious substances. 


180 


RATIONAL DIET 


It is often said that a small amount of sulphurous acid in 
dried fruits is not injurious. To be sure the effects of preserva¬ 
tives are not always immediately noticed, especially in the case of 
adults with a robust constitution, but finally they will impair the 
organs of digestion and assimilation. Extensive experiments con¬ 
ducted by Dr. H. W. Wiley, former chief chemist of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, have shown that the use of 
sulphurous acid in food is always deleterious; that it never adds 
anything to the flavor or quality of food, but renders it less pala¬ 
table and less wholesome. Sulphur, like all other chemical pre¬ 
servatives, such as benzoic acid, salicylic acid, saccharine, etc., acts 
as a poison to the system. Sulphurous acid seriously interferes 
with the action of the kidneys, which have to remove all the added 
sulphur from the body. It also retards the formation of the red 
blood corpuscles, and destroys the vitamins in the fruit. 

Unsulphured, dehydrated fruits are more wholesome and eco¬ 
nomical than canned fruits. For instance, a can of apricots con¬ 
tains one pound of fresh fruit and twelve ounces of syrup, usually 
made from refined sugar. One pound of dehydrated apricots rep¬ 
resents about six pounds of fresh fruit. In other words, the nutri¬ 
tive value of one pound of dehydrated apricots is equal to that of 
about six cans of apricots. A carload of 30,000 cans of fruit has 
a gross weight of about 30 tons, but actually contains only about 
15 tons of fresh fruit. A carload of dehydrated fruit of about 
the same gross weight represents at least 150 tons of fresh fruit. 
The consumer has to pay for the cost of syrup and canning, also 
for the increased cost of transportation, at the ratio of about 
ten to one. 

Sun-dried, or dehydrated fruits, should never be cooked. The 
best way to prepare them for the table is to soak them in water 
for about twelve hours, or until they are sufficiently softened. In 
cold weather the fruit may be slightly warmed, but never boiled. 

With our constantly increasing and much improved methods 
of preserving, transporting and distributing food products, many 
of the tropical fruits and nuts are rapidly coming within the 
reach of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the temperate 
zone. In fact, such products as the pineapple, banana, date and 
cocoanut have become staple foods in many parts of Europe and 
North America. 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


181 


Some of the tropical fruits, hitherto unknown or neglected 
outside their native countries, are now receiving attention not 
only in the markets of the temperate zone but also among growers 
in the tropics and in sub-tropical regions, where some of the more 
hardy of these fruits are being cultivated. 

The banana is a striking example of what can be done with 
most tropical fruits, if methods of harvesting, transportation, and 
distribution are improved. Eventually other tropical fruits will 
likewise become staple food products. The avocado, the most 
conspicuous aspirant for popular favor at the present time, appears 
in varieties even outside of the tropics, hundreds of acres being 
planted in Florida and Southern California. 

In the not far distant future, such wholesome and nutritious 
foods as the sapodilla, cherimoya and mangosteen, which are now 
luxuries on the tables of the rich, will be available in the colder 
climates, and at prices that will be within the reach of all. The 
productivity of the tropical soil is marvelously abundant, and 
there is no reason why we should not amplify our dietary by the 
addition of nature’s most delicious tropical fruits. 

As has been shown in the preceding chapter, man is a child of 
the tropics. For many hundred thousands of years he subsisted on 
the products of the tropical forests, before climate and configuration 
of the continents forced him to migrate to the temperate zones, 
where the struggle for existence was more severe. But even in our 
less favored climates, where the growth of vegetation is impeded 
by cold seasons, the soil, if properly cultivated, yields an abun¬ 
dance of nourishment. The fruit trees, especially, show a remark¬ 
able fertility which can he always maintained, if the right kind of 
fertilizer is utilized. The perfection of all hard-wood fruit trees 
demands plenty of the mineral substances in the soil, which nat¬ 
urally must be replaced. 

In the following pages of this chapter, the most common species 
of fruits, growing in the temperate, sub-tropical and tropical zones, 
will be briefly described. 

Fkuits of the Tempekate Zones 
TEE APPLE 

The apple (pyrus malus) is the most important fruit of the cool 
temperate zone, over which it is universally cultivated as far north 
as 60 degrees latitude. All the cultivated varieties have been 


182 


RATIONAL DIET 


derived from the crab, a wild apple (pyrus baccata), whose culti¬ 
vation is pre-historic. The tree is indigenous to most countries of 
Europe, and, in almost all countries where the oak thrives, it is the 
longest lived. With the exception of the cherry tree, the apple is 
the largest of our fruit trees. It is not uncommon to find trees 
healthy and bearing at the age of one hundred years, often pro¬ 
ducing from ten to twenty barrels of fruit. The apple tree is hardy 
and adapted to a wider range of soil and climatic conditions than 
any other important fruit. It grows well in the North Atlantic 
states, Ohio, along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and in a 
large part of the Mississippi valley, but the protracted and humid 
summer of the cotton belt is not favorable to its best development. 
It does well in the sheltered districts of the Ozark Mountains, 
while the best and highest priced apples in North America are 
produced in the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Coast States and south¬ 
ern British Columbia. New York is the leading American state in 
commercial apple-growing. Four counties on the shore of Lake 
Ontario in the western part of the state have had for a number 
of years the most important apple shipping districts. 

There are over a thousand varieties of apples in the United 
States, but most of them are only of local value. The most 
common varieties in America are Baldwin, Bellflower, Ben Davis, 
Delicious, Gravenstein, Greening, Northern Spy, Pearmain, New¬ 
town Pippin, Oldenburg, Astrachan, Roxbury Russet, Smith Cider, 
Spitzenbergen and Winesap. The U. S. census of 1900 showed a 
total of 210 million trees in what are known as commercial orchards, 
covering an area of about four million acres that yield over 210 
million bushels annually. 

An apple tree will rarely bear two heavy crops in succession. 
This fact, in addition to occasional injuries by frosts, makes it 
exceedingly rare for all the different apple districts to have a 
full crop at the same time. 

The yield of the apple is often as high as ten tons per acre, 
especially if properly cultivated and fertilized. It is capable 
of being produced on rough, unarable land, of which there is a 
large amount, especially east of the Mississippi River. A large 
part of the annual apple crop of the United States is used in 
the form of dried apples, apple butter, apple jelly, apple juice, 
boiled cider and vinegar. France is the leading cider-producing 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


183 


country in the world. In northern France and southern Germany, 
millions of dollars are invested in growing cider apples, and the 
annual production of France is from 300 to 600 million gallons. 
This is, naturally, a waste of good food material, as the valuable 
fruit sugar is converted into alcohol during the process of fer¬ 
mentation. Unfermented apple juice, or sweet cider, can be easily 
kept in good condition by pasteurization at 160 degrees, or by 
putting it in cold storage, at 35 to 40 degrees F. 

Millions of barrels of apples are now placed in cold storage 
plants where a temperature within a few degrees of freezing point 
will keep them for a full year, thus rendering this wholesome fruit 
available at all seasons. 

While the protein content of the apple is low, not averaging 
more than 0.5 per cent, the sugar content varies from 10 to 15 
per cent, as in Baldwins and Spitzenbergens, if fully ripe. Malic 
acid is found in quantities from 0.3 to 0.6 per cent. Apples con¬ 
tain often as much as 4 to 5 per cent of pectin, or vegetable 
jelly, upon which the successful making of apple jelly depends. 
The mineral matter of apples is especially rich in potassium, 
sodium, magnesium and iron salts, which contribute to the building • 
of blood and bone. A more or less exclusive diet of apples is highly 
beneficial in cases of hyper-acidity of the blood, as also in diseases 
of the liver and kidneys, especially diabetes. 

THE MEDLAR 

The Medlar (pyrus germanicus) is common throughout Europe 
and the British Isles, but not in the United States. In appearance 
medlars are somewhat like small apples and are not edible until 
they have undergone a peculiar ripening process, induced by the 
enzymes of the fruit. Ripe medlars are very rich in sugar, con¬ 
taining as much as 16 per cent, and have a pleasant flavor. 

THE PEAR 

The pear (pyrus communis) is botanically related to the apple, 
and also has a similar chemical composition, but it contains more 
sugar and less malic acid. The tree is a native of temperate 
Europe and Asia. It is now largely grown in California, Oregon 
and Washington, where it was among the first fruit trees planted. 

The best known varieties are the Bartlett, Sugar Pear, Winter 


1S4 


RATIONAL DIET 


Nellis, Kieffer and Seckel. The Bartlett is the most popular Cali¬ 
fornia pear on account of its size, delicate flavor and aroma. The 
pear tree is hardier than the apple tree and also has a wider range 
in local adaptation. The larger portion of the California pear 
crop is shipped fresh to the large Eastern cities, while the re¬ 
mainder is canned and dried. 

Most of the dried California pears are quite heavily sulphured, 
which destroys their hygienic value. Unsulphured, dehydrated 
pears should be demanded by consumers, who for the most part 
are unfortunately guided in their selection by the brighter appear¬ 
ance of the sulphured article. 

THE QUINCE 

The quince (cydonia oblonga) was known to the ancient Greeks 
and Romans, and is now cultivated throughout southern Europe, 
western Asia and America. It was naturalized at an early period 
in Persia and in all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. 
The quince does well in California and rewards the grower with 
large crops, but it is not a very popular fruit. It is hard and 
astringent, and has been improved but little since the time of the 
ancient Greeks. The flavor of the quince is very much improved 
by cooking. It is rather extensively used for making marmalade 
and jellies. The quince contains on an average about 9 per cent 
of sugar, 1 per cent of protein, 0.47 per cent mineral matter, 0.60 
malic acid, and shows a large amount of cellulose, about 18 per cent. 

THE APRICOT 

The apricot (prunus armeniaca) came originally from Armenia, 
and it is said to be found wild on the southern slopes of the Cauca¬ 
sus mountains. It grows readily in warm and temperate climates, 
and is one of the early ripening fruits. The apricot is now exten¬ 
sively grown in China and Japan, in some of the protected places 
of Central Europe, and more recently in different parts of Cali¬ 
fornia. The leading apricot growing counties in California, are 
Riverside, Ventura, Kings, Santa Clara, Alameda and Solano. 
At present there are about 60,000 acres in the state planted to 
apricots. From 300 to 400 cars are shipped fresh to the Eastern 
markets, while a considerable quantity is canned and dried. The 
principal varieties are the Blenheim, Royal, Tilton and Moorpark. 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 185 

A well cared for orchard often will produce in the fifth year five 
tons or more to the acre. 

The apricot contains only a moderate amount of sugar, from 
10 to 13 per cent, but has about one per cent of fruit acid, a 
larger amount than either the apple or pear. 

The mineral matter of the apricot is distributed as follows: 


Potash 

59.36 

per 

cent 

Manganese 

9.37 

per 

cent 

Soda 

10.26 

< ( 

i t 

Phosphoric Acid 

13.09 

11 

< < 

Lime 

3.17 

i < 

< < 

Sulphur 

2.63 

( < 

< i 

Magnesia 

3.68 

< < 

«< 

Silica 

5.23 

11 

< < 

Iron 

1.68 

< < 

< < 

Chlorine 

9.45 

(i 

< < 


These figures represent the average of over fifty analyses of 
the whole fruit. 

THE PEACH 


The cultivation of the peach (prunus persica) dates from the 
remotest antiquity, at least two thousand years before its intro¬ 
duction to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The botanical name 
seems to indicate Persian origin. 

Peaches are now largely grown in south-western Europe, es¬ 
pecially in France. They are also grown in southern Canada, in 
many districts of the United States, as Georgia, Maryland, New 
Jersey, southwestern Michigan and most extensively in California, 
which now has the leadership in their production, growing more 
than all other states of the Union combined. The average produc¬ 
tion in California is about 300,000 tons, of which about one-half 
is shipped fresh, the remainder canned or dried. As with apricots 
and pears, peaches as a rule are heavily sulphured, and, there¬ 
fore, preference should be given to the unsulphured, dehydrated 
product, which is sweeter and more palatable. 

The average composition of the peach is 80 per cent water, 0.7 
per cent protein, 0.1 per cent fat, about 10 per cent sugar, 0.9 per 
cent acid, 0.7 per cent mineral matter; potash, lime and soda 
make up the larger portion of the organic salts. 

The flesh of the peach is flavored by the presence of a very 
small quantity of hydro-cyanic acid and fruit ethers. In general, 
there are two kinds of peaches: free stone, in which the pulp readily 
separates from the stone; and clings, in which the pulp adheres 
to the stone. Peaches picked before they are fully ripe and taken 


186 


RATIONAL DIET 


to the market in refrigerator cars do not develop as fine a flavor 
as those practically ripe when picked. Peaches are made available 
to the consumer by planting early and late varieties, and by rapid 
methods of transportation from one region to another. 

The principal varieties grown in California are Briggs, Red 
May, Foster, Crawford, Tuskena, Muir, Elberta, Lovell, Philipps 
Cling, and the delicious so-called “Saucerpeach” which is not 
extensively cultivated because it is too tender-skinned for trans¬ 
portation. 

THE NECTARINE 

The nectarine (prunus persica) is closely related to the peach. 
In fact, it is a variety of peach in a smooth skin. The chemical 
analysis of the nectarine shows a similar content to that of the 
peach, and the fruits are the same in natural adaptation. Not¬ 
withstanding the many attractive features of the nectarine, it 
has never become as popular as the peach, owing probably to the 
fact that it is not so well known. Its smooth skin makes it as 
easy to handle as the apricot, while the beauty of the product, 
exceeds that of the peach. 

PLUMS AND PRUNES 

The word prunes (prunus) applies to those varieties of plums 
that can be dried successfully without the removal of the pit. 
The fruit has been dried for centuries in some of the European 
countries, notably France, Bosnia, Servia, Dalmatia, and lately in 
California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Although the sun 
drying process has for the most part been employed in the treat¬ 
ment of prunes, modern methods of artificial evaporation will be 
more or less exclusively used by progressive fruit growers, be¬ 
cause the process is cheaper in the end, and cleaner, as the fruit 
is not contaminated by dust, dirt and insects. The production of 
sun dried prunes increased in California from 10,000 tons in 1890 
to 112,000 tons in 1917. The prevailing dried varieties are the 
French and Imperial prune, the latter being the largest of its kind. 

The following varieties of plums are generally shipped fresh: 
Tragedy, Burbank, Sugar, Silver Prune, Yellow Egg, Satsuma, or 
Blood Plum, the last being introduced and fruited in this country 
by Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa. Analyses show that they 
generally contain from 10 to 20 per cent sugar, one per cent 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


187 


protein, from 0.3 to one per cent acid, and 0.6 per cent mineral 
matter. Dried prunes contain as much as 70 per cent sugar and 
more than 2 per cent mineral matter. The latter is distributed as 
follows: 


Potash 

63.83 

per 

cent 

Phosphoric Acid 14.08 per 

cent 

Soda 

2.65 

< i 

« < 

Sulphur 

2.68 “ 

< < 

Lime 

4.66 

< < 

C ( 

Silica 

3.07 “ 

«< 

Magnesia 

5.47 

C i 

< ( 

Chlorine 

0.34 “ 

< < 

Iron 

2.72 

(( 

< i 





Prunes are exceptionally rich in magnesia and iron, and are 
therefore, excellent blood builders. The above figures represent the 
average of a number of analyses. 


THE PLUMCOT 

The plumcot is one of the most striking achievements of Mr. 
Burbank. It is the cross of the plum and apricot, which he has 
very fitly named the plumcot. 

This fruit is about the size of an ordinary apricot, and has a 
deep purple, velvety skin. One of its striking features is the bril¬ 
liant red flesh which possesses a strong sub-acid flavor, rendering 
it suitable for cooking, jellies and jams. The fruit is in great 
demand for such uses, but is not yet cultivated to any large extent. 

THE CHERRY 

Like the apricot, the cherry (prunus cerasus) comes to us from 
the Caucasus and the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and is 
now cultivated in most countries of the temperate zone. Over two 
hundred varieties are grown, some sweet and some sour. In New 
England, New York, Michigan, Iowa, and more recently in Cal¬ 
ifornia and Oregon, cherries are now extensively grown, ripening 
through May, June and July. Although the amount of cherries 
grown in California is small, as compared with the aggregate 
weights of some other fruits, the cherry, considering the growth 
of the tree and the size and quality of the product, is entitled to 
rank as one of the grand fruits of the Golden State. It is more 
adaptable to the northern parts of California, Oregon and Wash¬ 
ington. 

Cherry trees begin to bear when four or five years old, and 
continue bearing to a great age, sometimes one hundred years or 


188 


RATIONAL DIET 


more. The composition of the fruit varies with the variety, and 
the flavor is influenced by the soil and climatic conditions. Cherries 
on the average contain 80 per cent water, 1 per cent protein, 0.8 
per cent fat, from 10 to 16 per cent sugar, 0.9 per cent acid, mostly 
malic, and 0.6 per cent mineral matter. 

THE GRAPE 

The grape (vitis vinifera) is one of the most popular fruits of 
the temperate zones and is grown as far north as 55 degrees latitude. 
It is a native of Central Asia and is still found growing wild south 
of the Caspian sea, the Caucasus and Armenia. The records of 
the cultivation of the grape and the making of wine go back five 
or six thousand years. The grape was introduced into Europe by 
the Phoenicians. Its culture by the ancient Greeks and Romans is 
well known, and indeed its greater antiquity in some parts of 
Europe seems to point to pre-historic times, as seeds of the grape 
have been found in the lake dwellings of Switzerland and south¬ 
ern France. 

The leading grape growing countries of the world are those 
bordering on the Mediterranean sea, especially Greece, Italy, 
France, Algeria and Morocco. In North America, as compared 
with that of the old world, the area devoted to grape culture is 
small. The principal grape growing districts are Virginia, nor¬ 
thern New York, the shores of Lake Erie, southern Michigan, 
Missouri and the Pacific Coast States, of which California takes the 
leading part. In the Southern Hemisphere, Chili, western Argen¬ 
tina, Cape Colony and Southern Australia grow a considerable 
amount of grapes, mostly for home consumption. 

The larger portion of the European grape crop is annually con¬ 
verted into wine, champagne and brandy, which is really a great 
economic waste, as the valuable grape sugar is converted into 
alcohol during the process of fermentation, involving a most 
unnecessary loss. The virtues of wine, to be sure, have been 
sung by poets since time immemorial, and millions of people 
still sacrifice to Bacchus, the god of wine of the ancient Greeks. 
But, notwithstanding the fact that since the dawn of history 
many nations have been accustomed to the daily use of wine, the 
truth is not less potent that the real nutritive and hygienic value 
of the fruit of the vine can be enjoyed only when fresh or dried, 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


189 


or in the form of unfermented grape juice, containing the natural 
grape sugar and the valuable organic salts, which are almost 
entirely lost in the process of fermentation and distillation. 

It is gratifying to note, on the other hand, that in many parts 
of Europe the so-called “grape cure” during the harvest has be¬ 
come very popular. It is used in many health resorts in southern 
Germany, Austria and northern Italy, where people live on grapes 
exclusively from four to six weeks, increasing the quantity from 
three to eight pounds daily, according to age and constitution. 
The cure is especially helpful in diseases of the respiratory organs 
and kidneys, also in anemic conditions. The beneficial action of the 
grape cure is due chiefly to the simplicity of the diet, which fur¬ 
nishes the protein and carbohydrates in most assimilable form, 
while the large proportion of alkaline salts, such as potash, lime, 
magnesia and iron, reduce the acidity of the blood. Fresh grape 
juice also contains vitamins “B” and “C” which are partly lost 
in the pasteurized or preserved juice. 

The chemical analysis of the grape shows a great many varia¬ 
tions, according to climate, soil, topography of the country, etc. 
The sugar content may be from 15 to 30 per cent, protein from 
0.6 to 1.5 per cent, pectin about 1 per cent, tartaric acid from 0.5 
to 1.2 per cent, while mineral matter averages about 0.5 per cent. 

In the central and northeastern portions of the United States, 
the Concord grape predominates. It is used mostly fresh and in the 
production of unfermented grape juice. Other popular eastern 
varieties are the Catawba, Delaware and Niagara grapes. Among 
the Pacific Coast States, California now leads in grape growing, 
producing over one million tons annually. The principal varieties 
are the Mission (the first variety grown in California), Almeria, 
Black Hamburg, Black Malvoise, Chasselas, Cornichon, Emperor, 
Feherzago, Malaga, Muscatel, Muscat of Alexandria, Tokay, Zin- 
fandel. The California Concord and Isabella do well in the coast 
districts. The Black Corinth, known as “currants” when dried, 
is also raised to a certain extent, but most of the currants sold in 
the United States are imported from Greece. Sultanas and Thomp¬ 
sons are the best known seedless varieties of grapes. 

Prior to the enactment of the prohibition laws, about 250,000 
tons of California grapes were annually converted into wine, sweet 
wine and brandy every year. As the home manufacture of wine 


190 


RATIONAL DIET 


has become a national industry, the demand for wine grapes is 
increasing rather than diminishing, and prices for these grapes are 
now higher than ever before in the United States. Growers of wine 
grapes, who expected to become bankrupt, found themselves sud¬ 
denly in an enviable position, while their land doubled and tripled 
in value within a few years. This is another illustration of the 
fact that we cannot change ingrained habits simply by legislating 
against them. People who immigrated to America from southern 
Europe have been accustomed to the use of wine for thousands of 
years, and it will require a good deal of sound education to effect 
a change in their methods of living. 

About 250,000 tons of California grapes are shipped fresh for 
table use. The best varieties for eastern markets are the Corni- 
chons, Emperors, Malagas, Muscats and Tokays. 

The raisin industry, which consumes the balance of the Cali¬ 
fornia grape crop—about 600,000 tons—has made wonderful prog¬ 
ress since the growers became well organized. The raisin crop in 
1912 amounted to 170 million pounds, and increased to 264 million 
pounds in 1920, while the present production is over 400 million 
pounds, (200,000 tons). Muscat grapes make the best raisins for 
table use, while the seedless grapes, Sultanas and Thompsons, are 
excellent for many culinary and manufacturing purposes. Cali¬ 
fornia raisins are among the most wholesome and nutritious dried 
fruits produced in the world. They are generally dried in the sun, 
without sulphur, as the dry heat of the interior valleys rapidly 
takes up the moisture of the fruit. 

The average of seven analyses gives the following composition of 
raisins: 


Water 

14.60 

per 

cent 

Protein 

2.60 

i i 

< < 

Fat 

3.30 

< i 

< < 

Sugar 

76.10 

i ( 

c ( 

Mineral Matter 

3.00 

< i 

(( 


Raisins are rich in potash, magnesia and iron, and should be 
used in place of artificial sweets. 

THE AMERICAN RAW PAW 

The American pawpaw (asimina triloba) must be distinguished 
from the tropical papaya tree (carica papaya) whose fruit is often 
called papaw ’ or ‘‘pawpaw.” The papaw tree is a native of the 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


191 


United States, and seems to grow best in the lowlands of the Mis¬ 
sissippi valley. The fruit was much valued by the Indians, from 
whom the early European settlers learned its use. As the flesh of 
the fully ripe fruit is very soft and easily bruised, it cannot be 
shipped conveniently to any great distance, and is, therefore, little 
known outside of the regions where, for the most part, it grows 
wild. 

Professor C. F. Langworthy and A. D. Holmes, of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, have recently made some very 
valuable and interesting investigations of this most wholesome and 
nutritious fruit, which deserves more general cultivation and wider 
use. There is no doubt that with proper care the papaw can be 
cultivated throughout the warmer regions of the United States. 

The papaw tree varies in size from a bush to a medium-sized 
tree, and is a prolific bearer. The fruit, which matures about the 
middle of September, resembles in appearance a small banana more 
than any other fruit, but it is practically cylindrical and has 
both ends rounded. It reaches a length of four to six inches, with 
a diameter of one to two inches. The stem of the papaw is at¬ 
tached a little to one side of the axis of the fruit, so that it hangs 
almost horizontal, rather than vertical. In favorable localities the 
fruits often reach a weight of three-quarters of a pound to a pound, 
although most of them are smaller, particularly when clustered on 
the branches. On account of the close resemblance of its fruit to 
the banana, the papaw tree is often called the ‘‘little wild banana 
tree.” 

The fruit contains a double row of shiny black seeds, arranged 
at right angles to its axis, constituting nearly one-fifth of the pulp, 
which is smooth, creamy, and of rather pungent aroma. In this 
respect the papaw has much in common with the tropical custard 
apple (cherimoya). The skin of the fruit is very thin and is 
generally eaten with the pulp. 

One of the most striking characteristics of the papaw is its high 
percentage of protein, in this respect surpassing any other variety 
of fresh fruit known. The edible portion of the fruit shows the 
following composition: 

Water 76.6 per cent Carbohydrates 

Protein 5.2 “ “ (mostly sugar) 16.8 per cent 

Fat 0.9 “ “ Mineral Matter 0.5 “ “ 


192 


RATIONAL DIET 


It is, therefore, fully equal, if not superior in nutritive value 
to the banana. Like the latter, the papaw, if cut in half, can easily 
be dried, especially by means of a modern dehydrater, in which 
temperature and moisture can be well regulated. The papaw, on 
account of its dietetic and hygienic value, is certainly worthy of 
consideration and of further study. 

SMALL FRUITS 

The small fruits, or berries, have the advantage over tree fruits, 
in that they can be made to yield profits often in a year or two 
after planting, while in the home gardens they will supply fresh 
fruit of various kinds for the table throughout a long season. Fur¬ 
thermore, because of the fact that berries provide a source of im¬ 
mediate income and only occupy the soil for a limited length of 
time, they are used considerably as inter-crops in orchards. If 
properly managed, no injury to the trees results, and until the trees 
come into bearing, the grower has a source of revenue. 

Berries consist of a more or less watery pulp, containing a mass 
of seeds. The various kinds of berries contain from 85 to 90 per 
cent of water; 8 to 12 per cent of fruit sugar; a small amount of 
protein, fat and pectin; from 0.4 to 0.7 per cent of mineral matter, 
mostly potash, lime and magnesia; and, in the currant and straw¬ 
berry, a considerable amount of iron. The fruit acids, mostly in 
the form of malic acid, amount to from 1 per cent to over 2 per 
cent. 

The principal varieties of berries are the Blackberry, Cran¬ 
berry, Currant, Dewberry, Elderberry, Gooseberry, Huckleberry, 
Loganberry, Raspberry and Strawberry. Most of them, with the 
exception of the strawberry, are grown on low bushes, or small 
trees. Many of these varieties grow wild over vast areas in the 
United States. Likewise in the Eastern Hemisphere, many of these 
varieties have been known in a wild state from earliest times. 

The Blackberry (rubus nigrobaccus) has been improved great¬ 
ly in size and appearance by cultivation. The berries are red before 
they turn black on becoming fully ripe, and when at their best, 
contain about 8 per cent sugar and 1 per cent acid. 

The Cranberry (vactinium macrocarpon) grows on vines or 
low bushes in the temperate zone of both Europe and America. 
It has a rich red color and an abundance of pectin, which makes it 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


193 


valuable for making sauces and jellies. The cranberry in its ripe 
state contains about 10 per cent sugar and 2.3 per cent malic acid. 
It is one of the few fruits that naturally has a small quantity of 
benzoic acid. Cranberries are highly beneficial in diseases of the 
liver and kidneys when eaten without refined sugar, because of their 
large content of organic acids that exist in the form of malates 
of potash and lime. 

Currants (ribes) are grown in three varieties, red, black and 
white, and contain about 7 per cent sugar and 2.25 per cent malic 
acid, mostly in the form of malate of potash. Black currants are 
especially appreciated for their general medicinal value. 

The Dewberry (rubus vitifolius) grows wild abundantly in the 
United States and has a very delicate flavor. Its chemical compo¬ 
sition is similar to that of the blackberry. 

The Elderberry (sambucus canadensis) grows on shrubs which 
often attain a considerable size. It is found wild throughout the 
temperate zone. The ripe berries make a dark-colored juice, which 
may be preserved with the addition of a little honey. 

The Gooseberry (ribes grossularia) y which is also found wild 
throughout Europe and North America, has been very much im¬ 
proved by cultivation. While some of the small wild berries are 
thickly covered with spines, some of the improved large varieties 
have an almost smooth skin. Under favorable conditions they 
contain as much as 13 per cent sugar, while the acid is not higher 
than 1 or 1.5 per cent. They also have a considerable amount 
of pectose, while among the organic salts, potash, lime and mag¬ 
nesia predominate. 

The Mulberry (morns alba) also grows wild on medium-sized 
trees over a large area both in the United States and Europe. 
The berries are very sweet, containing as much as 15 per cent sugar, 
and little acid. In the Orient the tree is cultivated for the silk 
industry, as the silk worm feeds on its leaves. 

The Raspberry (rubus strigosus) is extensively cultivated, 
but like all berries, grows wild in most parts of the United States. 
It has a very delicate and distinct flavor for which it is highly 
esteemed. Fully ripened raspberries make one of the most deli¬ 
cious and refreshing fruit juices. In places where the berries 
are grown on a commercial scale, they are often dehydrated. Ripe 


194 


RATIONAL DIET 


raspberries contain about 1 per cent protein, 8 per cent sugar and 
from 1 to 1.5 per cent malic acid. 

The Loganberry is a hybrid plant obtained by crossing the red 
raspberry and the blackberry. The fruit is large, long, dark-red in 
color, sub-acid in flavor, and good in quality. It makes an excellent 
unfermented fruit juice. It is grown in nearly all the berry sec¬ 
tions of the United States. 

The Huckleberry (gaylussacia resinosa) grows wild on small 
bushes throughout the North Temperate zone. It is also found in 
large quantities on waste lands in the northern United States and 
southern Canada, where it is gathered by the natives and shipped 
to distant towns and cities. Huckleberries can be dried easily so 
that they can be kept during the winter. The ripe berries contain 
about 80 per cent water, 7 per cent sugar, 1 to 1.6 per cent malic 
and citric acid. They are rich in potash, lime, and magnesia 
salts. 

The Strawberry (fragraria chiloensis) undoubtedly is superior 
to other berries on account of its excellent flavor and great hygienic 
value. Although it grows wild in many places, it has been exten¬ 
sively cultivated since the sixteenth century, and by continuous 
improvement a large variety of luscious berries is now grown 
throughout the temperate zones. Strawberries contain from 85 
to 90 per cent of water; 0.7 to 1 per cent protein; 7 to 8 per cent 
sugar; 1 to 1.6 per cent malic and citric acid, and 0.6 to 0.8 
per cent of mineral matter, which includes a larger amount of iron 
than contained in any of the other berries. 

Tropical and Sub-tropical Fruits 
Citrus Fruits 
THE LEMON 

The lemon (citrus limonum) was introduced into Palestine and 
Egypt by the Arabs in the tenth century, and into Europe at the 
time of the Crusades. 

Although lemons have been grown in California for half a 
century, it is only during the last 25 years that they have risen 
to considerable commercial importance. The lemon tree is less 
hardy than the orange and comprises from 10 to 15 per cent of 
the citrus crop. The principal varieties of lemons grown in Cali- 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


195 


fornia are the Eureka; the Genoa, imported from Genoa; the Lis¬ 
bon, from Portugal; Villa Franca, imported from Europe, and the 
Bonnie Brae, mostly grown in San Diego County, California. The 
average annual yield in California, on about 4,500 acres of lemon 
orchards during a period of five years was about 196 boxes per 
acre. In the United States there are at present over 30,000 acres 
of lemons in bearing. Practically all the imported lemons come 
from Sicily, where the production is very large. 

Chemical analysis of lemon juice shows the following constit¬ 
uents : 


Water 

Protein 

Sugar 

Mineral Matter 
Citric Acid 


88.00 per cent 
0.94 “ “ 

2.08 “ “ 

1.00 “ “ 

7.66 “ 


i < 


As in the orange, potash, lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid pre¬ 
dominate in the mineral content of lemons. Lemon juice should 
always take the place of vinegar in the preparation of vegetables. 
The medicinal value of the lemon consists of its high percentage 
of citric acid, combined with potash and lime, and its large amount 
of vitamins “B” and “C.” 


TEE CITRON 

The citron (citrus medica) of commerce was grown by the Cali¬ 
fornia Missions in the early days, but is now grown only to a 
small extent in Riverside County, California. It is extensively 
cultivated in China, Persia and the Mediterranean countries. The 
tree is similar to the lemon, but the fruit is much larger, being 
from four to six inches long. The interior consists of a somewhat 
acid pulp, from which a juice is pressed, which is used like lemon 
juice. The rind of the citron, which is thick and spongy, is fre¬ 
quently used in candied form. 

TEE LIME 

The lime (citrus acida) is grown and cultivated especially in 
the West Indies, Italy and Florida; also to a small extent in Cali¬ 
fornia. The fruit is oval, yellow, about one inch long, and not 
suitable for eating. It is highly valued for its large content of 
citric acid (from 7 to 8 per cent), and the essential oil and 
the lime juice that may be obtained from it. The chemical compo¬ 
sition of the lime is about the same as that of the lemon. Lime 
juice is also very valuable, as it contains the anti-scorbutic vitamin 


196 


RATIONAL DIET 


“C,” and is, therefore, indispensable to those who are deprived of 
fresh vegetables for a long time. 

THE POMELO , OR GRAPE FRUIT 
The pomelo (citrus grandis) was one time almost exclusively 
grown in Florida, but its cultivation has increased in recent years, 
and considerable quantities are produced in Riverside, Tulare, San 
Diego and other citrus counties of California. The pomelo, which 
originally came from China, is the largest of the citrus fruits. 
It contains a considerable amount of acid, although not so much as 
the lemon, and also a peculiar bitter principle. It is best served 
cut in halves and eaten with a teaspoon, after some honey has been 
added, to suit the taste. 

The juice of the fully ripened fruit contains on an average: 


Water 

87.00 

per 

cent 

Sugar 

7.00 per 

cent 

Protein 

0.56 

< i 

< < 

Citric Acid 

1.00 " 

< < 

Mineral Matter 

0.56 

< < 

< < 




The mineral matter 

is 

composed as follows: 



Potash 

43.01 

per 

cent 

Phosphoric Acid 

11.09 per 

cent 

Magnesia 

3.92 

<« 

< < 

Sulphuric Acid 

3.39 “ 

< < 

Lime 

7.34 

i < 

i i 

Chlorine 

1.38 “ 

t ( 

Iron 

1.28 

< i 

<< 





THE KUMQUAT 

The kumquat (citrus japonica) is one of the smallest of the 
citrus fruits. It is a native of China, and has been grown in Florida 
and California for some time. The fruit is bright golden yellow, 
growing in clusters, and is only about 1 to iy 2 inches long. The 
thin rind is sweet and aromatic, and the entire fruit, rind and 
all, is usually eaten. The tree is exceedingly ornamental, espe¬ 
cially when covered with its bright yellow fruit. It makes a 
delicious preserve if sweetened with honey. 

THE ORANGE 

The orange (citrus sinensis) is probably a native of southern 
China, whence it was introduced into Syria, Arabia, and the west¬ 
ern Mediterranean countries. It was brought to America by the 
Spaniards. In the United States we have three well developed 
orange regions: Central and southern Florida, the Delta region of 
the Mississippi, California, and some parts of Arizona. At present 
the great orange centers in California are in Los Angeles, San 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


197 


Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. But there are 
various orange centers in central and northern California where 
the successful culture of this fruit has been continuous for a number 
of years. 

The standard varieties are the Washington Navel, the Paper 
Rind, the Saint Michael, the Valencia Late, the Blood orange, 
Tangerines, and the Mediterranean Sweets. The superior quality 
of the Navels grown in California commands the winter market, 
but the St. Michael and the Valencia are good oranges, and can 
be left on the tree until May or June. 

The introduction, by the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, of the Washington Navel orange in 1870 from Bahia, 
Brazil, under the name of “Bahia” orange, and the sending of 
two trees propagated from those introduced from Brazil to Mrs. 
L. C. Tibbets, Riverside, California, in 1873, mark the most im¬ 
portant epoch in the history of citrus culture in California. At 
that time there were many types of oranges grown in Southern 
California, most of which were descended from trees planted in 
gardens around the old Missions. 

At present the orange industry in California represents an 
investment of about $150,000,000. During the season of 1916-1917, 
over 15 million boxes were shipped, representing a value of over 
$33,000,000. The average annual yield on a twenty acre orange 
grove from 1906 to 1911 was about 158 boxes, or 8,000 pounds of 
fruit per acre. 

A number of chemical analyses from the juice of ripe oranges 
show on the average the following constituents: 

Water 87.00 per cent Fruit Sugar 10.00 per cent 

Protein 0.80 “ “ Citric Acid 1.25 “ 

Fat 0.20 “ “ Mineral matter 1.25 “ “ 


The last is composed as follows, giving the average of nine analyses 


in per cent of the total amount: 


Potash 

Lime 

Iron 

Phosphoric acid 
Silica 


48.94 per cent 

22.71 “ “ 

0.97 “ “ 

12.37 “ “ 

0.65 “ “ 


Soda 
Magnesia 
Manganese 
Sulphuric acid 
Chlorine 


2.50 per cent 

5.34 “ “ 

0.37 “ “ 

5.25 “ “ 

0.92 “ “ 


Pure orange juice is especially valuable for growing children 
on account of the high content of lime and magnesia, both bone 


198 


RATIONAL DIET 


building elements. Although the orange contains a large amount 
of citric acid, the juice, on account of its large amount of potash, 
is decidedly alkaline in its reaction. Special attention should be 
called to the fact that nine analyses show the following variation 
in the percentage of composition: 


Lime 

16.37 

per 

cent 

to 

27.70 

per 

cent 

Soda 

1.67 

< i 

<« 

i « 

4.09 

i < 

< < 

Iron 

0.41 

C l 

< < 

< < 

2.00 

< < 

«< 

Phosphoric acid 

9.75 

C l 

< < 

< < 

14.46 

< < 

a 

Silica 

0.31 

«i 

< < 

< < 

0.94 

< < 

« t 


Proper fertilization of the soil will undoubtedly increase the 
contents of soda, lime, and iron in the fruit, and make it still 
more valuable from a hygienic point of view. 

The evergreen nature of the orange tree and its heavy bearing 
properties are a severe drain on the soil, and annual fertilization 
with cover crops is necessary when trees are several years old— 
cover crops being in all cases much superior in their yield of essen¬ 
tial soil requirements, as well as being more wholesome and hygienic 
than animal or stockyard fertilizers. 


TEE TANGERINE 

The tangerine (citrus nobilis) appears to be a race distinct 
from the orange and indigenous in northeastern India and southern 
China. The leaves and blossoms are smaller than those of the 
orange, and exhale a peculiar aromatic odor. The branches are 
slender and the fruit is flattened, with segments loosely adhering, 
forming a hole in the center. The rind is saffron yellow, smooth, 
and glossy. When fully ripe the fruit is exceedingly juicy and 
of a delicious flavor. 


THE AVOCADO 


The avocado (persea gratissima) is one of the most ideal of all 
fruits. It is indigenous to the mainland of tropical America. Its 
chemical composition shows a high food value. The average of ten 
varieties analyzed shows: 


Water 

Protein 

Fat 

Carbohydrates 
Mineral matter 


68.85 per cent 

2.00 “ “ 

21.60' “ “ 

6.00 “ “ 

1.55 “ “ 


Some varieties show a fat content as high as 29 per cent, protein 
2.43 per cent, while the total amount of organic salts is much 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


199 


greater than that contained in many other fresh fruits. Potassium, 
sodium, calcium, and magnesium compose more than one-half of the 
total mineral matter, giving a preponderance of the alkaline ele¬ 
ments, while nuts show an excess of the acid-forming elements. 

Avocados grow on beautiful evergreen trees which are larger 
in some instances, than large apple trees. The hardier varieties 
will stand about as much frost as the orange tree. The size of the 
fruit varies from a few ounces to several pounds. The shape varies 
from round to oval or pear shaped. This is perhaps the reason 
why the avocado is sometimes called “alligator pear,” although 
generally it bears no relation to the ordinary pear. The color 
varies from light green to dark purple, sometimes black. The fruit, 
which has one large seed, should not be removed from the tree until 
it is mature. Avocados become soft when off the trees within one 
or two weeks after picking. When ready to eat they should be soft 
enough to spread on bread like butter. 

The avocado differs from most fruits in that it is not juicy, be¬ 
ing neither acid nor sweet. Its smooth and buttery consistency and 
rich nutty flavor distinguishes it from all other fruits. It is richer 
in protein than most fruits, while the best varieties have more than 
twenty per cent fat in a very palatable and digestible form, supe¬ 
rior to butter fat. In fact, this fruit replaces meat to a very large 
extent in all countries where it can be grown successfully. It is an 
excellent addition to combination salads, as it supplies both protein 
and fat, which are deficient in vegetables. 

The high prices, which have made the avocado so far prohibitive 
to many people with moderate means, have been due to the fact 
that the demand has been much greater than the supply. As the 
supply increases, the price will, of course, go down, but one should 
not expect the price to decrease to that of apples or peaches. New 
methods of dehydration or preservation, may bring the fruits of 
Mexico, Central America and the West Indies in large quantities 
to the United States, and may make the fruit almost as popular as 
the cocoanut. 

Although the avocado- attains its greatest production in the 
tropics, it does well in many favored places of sub-tropical countries. 
The rapid growth of the avocado industry in Southern California 
and Florida forms a new and important chapter in the horticultural 
industries of the United States. From a few scattered trees in 1915, 


200 


RATIONAL DIET 


the number has increased to many thousands of trees in orchard 
form, and thousands of trees are being planted each year. The 
United States Government sent Mr. Wilson Popenoe, an expert 
horticultural explorer, to the parts of the world where the avocado 
grows to perfection to secure budwood of the choicest varieties for 
use in this country, and is offering every possible assistance to en¬ 
courage the growing of avocados where climatic conditions will 
permit. In an interesting article, “Avocados as Food in Guate¬ 
mala,” Mr. Popenoe says: 

“As far as can be judged from the experience of the past ten 
years, Americans in general are going to like the avocado immense¬ 
ly. Probably not one per cent have tasted it as yet, but among 
those who have been fortunate enough to do so, there is no ques¬ 
tion regarding the popularity of this fruit. It must be admitted 
that the avocado is delicious. It is a taste which grows upon one, 
The delicately rich flavor of its soft creamy flesh is pleasant and 
satisfying to a degree rarely experienced. While it is most com¬ 
monly eaten with the addition of nothing more than a little salt 
and a dash of lemon juice, it blends admirably with certain other 
foods. 

“In certain portions of the Guatemalan highlands the avocado is 
eminently at home. It not only grows in almost every door yard, 
but also in the edges of cultivated fields and along the road sides, 
yielding generously of its handsome fruit, although it receives no 
care\from man. It is difficult for one who has not actually visited 
these regions to appreciate the extent to which the avocado replaces 
meat in the dietary of these industrious folk. It must be understood 
that meat, in Guatemala, is a luxury to be indulged in mainly by 
the well-to-do, its use among the poorer classes being very limited. 

‘ ‘ The abundance of avocados, their cheapness, and the long sea¬ 
son during which they are available make it possible for even the 
poorest natives in all principal avocado regions to use them as a 
daily article of food throughout more than half of the year. An 
avocado, four or five tortillas (small round cakes of coarsely 
ground maize) and a cup of coffee are considered by many In¬ 
dians the constituents of a good meal. The cost of such a meal is 
seldom over two cents, for outside the larger cities avocados are 
rarely sold for more than half a cent each. 

“No data regarding the annual production of avocados in 
Guatemala are available. While avocados are grown in practically 
all parts of Guatemala, certain regions are especially renowned 
for their production and supply most of the fruits sold in larger 
cities and towns. These regions all lie at elevations above 2,500 feet 
and are not only the greatest producers of avocados but the great 
horticultural centers of the republic. Favored by climatic condi- 



THE MESERVE AVOCADO ORIGINATED NEAR LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 













FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


201 


tions and possessing an exceedingly fertile soil, they have long been 
cultivated intensively by the Indians. 

“In Florida, an orchard of Trapp avocados at five years of age 
has produced an average of four crates of fruit per tree. Since 
there are 80 trees planted to the acre, this gives 320 crates of fruit 
per acre. Each crate contains an average of 40 avocados, which 
weigh about 12 ounces each. In other words, a crate contains 30 
pounds of fruit. This acre therefore produced 320 times 30 or 
9,600 pounds of fruit.” 

An article entitled “The Avocado in Florida” appeared in The 
Country Gentleman under the date of April 29th, 1922, from which 
the following paragraphs are quoted: 

“As a result of his observations Mr. Krome has been convinced 
that future cultural practices with the avocado must include care* 
ful thinning of the fruit, whenever this tendency to overbear mani¬ 
fests itself. This grower has taken as many as thirty-two crates of 
avocados from a single tree. 

“From between January 15th and March he didn’t have a sale 
of avocados in New York under $32.50 a crate. He frequently 
had them bring $40.00 a crate up to the time when Central Ameri¬ 
can avocados began to come in and break the market down to $15.00 
a crate. ’ ’ 

According to these figures thirty-two crates at prices received 
brought a return of about $1,000 per tree. Basing these estimates 
on individual trees, an acre of the best budded varieties will pro¬ 
duce at least 30,000 pounds of fruit in a year. At a price of even 
twenty cents a pound, this would mean a gross income of $6,000 
per acre. 

A number of full-grown avocado trees are scattered over South¬ 
ern California and bring very remarkable returns. There is grow¬ 
ing on the property of Joseph H. Walker, 1547 Los Palmas Ave¬ 
nue, Hollywood, a tree that in one year has produced over $1,800 
worth of fruit. Mr. Walker has had crops from this tree worth 
$1,500 and $1,200. The tree is very large now. By assuming that 
there were only twenty such trees per acre, they would bring a 
royal income. 

The old Taft tree at Orange, California, has produced as high 
as $800 worth of fruit in one year. A few years ago there was a 
tree in the Whittier District that produced $2,100 worth of fruit 
and $1,800 worth of budwood in one year. Allowing one hundred 
trees to the acre with an average crop of only $50 per tree, the 
income would be $5,000 per acre. 


202 


RATIONAL DIET 


There may be found throughout Southern California along the 
frostless foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, locations which 
are ideal for the growing of the avocado, as far as climatic condi¬ 
tions are concerned. Such lands for the growing of this veritable 
“tree of gold” are very valuable. 

Miami, Florida, is now one of the largest producing sections of 
the South; the fruit there usually ripens late in summer. The aver¬ 
age price, when the fruit is plentiful, is twelve cents a pound and at 
that figure the daily consumption is equal to one-fourth pound per 
capita of this district, the fruit being greatly in demand by all 
classes. 

In the city of Havana, the average per capita consumption is 
even more during the season when the fruit is cheap. Should the 
average daily per capita consumption in the United States reach 
only one-twentieth of a pound a day, it would require 500,000 
pounds a day or 1,500,000,000 pounds for 300 days of the year. 
This would be the product of 50,000 acres at the rate of 30,000 
pounds per acre, if the trees were in full bearing. 

There are about 180 varieties of avocados classified in California. 
Seedling trees have grown sixty feet high with fifty feet spread. 
Budded trees bear in from two to four years, according to variety. 
Seedling trees bear in from five to seven years. Orchards may be 
so arranged that fruit may be had all the year around. The time 
will come when people in Southern California, instead of planting 
the pepper, acacia and other trees for shade, will be planting the 
avocado, wherever there is no danger from severe frost. 

THE BANANA 

The banana (musa sapientum) is to the inhabitants of the trop¬ 
ics what the potato, sweet potato and other starchy roots are to the 
people of the temperate zones. It thrives best where the climate 
is moist and warm and the rainfall sufficient. As a producer of food, 
the banana tree is almost without a rival, and while cereals and 
potatoes require much labor and constant tillage of the soil, this 
tree, if kept free from rival plants, will grow rapidly and produce 
fruit after a few months. No yearly replanting is necessary, and 
the tree will produce continuously for many years. It is reported 
that in southern Brazil, banana plants, with slight care, have 
stood for thirty years, and still produce bunches of seventy bananas 



THE GUAVA (see page 220) 



MEXICAN AVOCADOS 
Average Weight Over One Pound 













FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


203 


each. The average yield per acre is from ten to fifteen times more 
than that of any of the cereals grown in northern countries, and 
even excels the prolific potato. An average annual yield of 400 
bunches per acre, weighing from 50 to 75 pounds, is considered a 
good crop. In 1913, the banana acreage in the West Indies and 
Central America amounted to 520,000, and this large expanse has 
since been greatly increased. 

The banana is shipped in a green state, when most of the carbo¬ 
hydrates are still in the form of starch, which is converted into 
sugar during the ripening process. When the skin becomes yellow 
and shows dark spots, the edible part of the fruit is in best condition 
to be eaten without further preparation. In some localities, of the 
West Indies and Central America, bananas are now dehydrated, 
which permits the ripening of the fruit on the tree. With the 
improved processes of dehydration, bananas can be shipped to 
greater distances and will have a larger field of distribution. 

During the ripening the starch of the banana is changed into 
soluble carbohydrates, chiefly cane and invert sugars and dextrin. 
The total amount of carbohydrates is about 20 per cent, of protein 
1.3 per cent and mineral matter 0.8 per cent, consisting largely of 
potash, sodium, and chlorine, while it is deficient in lime and iron. 
In the growth of the banana plant, the elements of lime and iron 
pass into the heavy stem and big leaves and are therefore lost for 
human nutrition. Ripe bananas should therefore be supplemented 
with green leaf vegetables. The unripe banana is often dried 
and ground into flour w r hich is equal in nutritive value to wheat 
flour. 

A close relative to the banana is the plantain which often reaches 
a length of twelve inches and a diameter of two and a half inches. 
It is generally eaten cooked or baked, in which form it is more 
palatable than when raw. Its constituents are about the same as 
those of the banana. 

The banana very closely resembles the potato in chemical compo¬ 
sition, as is shown by the following table: 


Potato Banana 

(Average) (Average) 


Water 

78.3 per 

cent 

75.3 

per 

cent 

Protein 

2.2 “ 

< < 

1.3 

< < 

< « 

Fat 

0.1 “ 

< < 

0.6 

< < 

< ( 

Total carbohydrates 

18.0 “ 

1 < 

22.0 

c c 

(( 

Mineral matter 

1.0 “ 

< i 

0.8 

(t 

i t 


204 


RATIONAL DIET 


An analysis of the mineral matter made by Professor Samuel G. 
Prescott, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gives the follow¬ 
ing figures in per cent of the total amount of organic salts: 


Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 


43.55 per cent 

15.11 “ “ 

1.82 “ “ 

6.45 “ “ 


Iron oxide 0.18 per cent 

Phosphoric acid 7.68 “ 

Sulphur Trioxide 3.26 ‘ 4 

Chlorine 7.23 “ “ 


The banana has the advantage over cereals in that its mineral 
matter is largely made up of base-forming salts, while that of the 
cereals has an excess of acid-forming elements. 

Most of the bananas imported into the United States come from 
the coasts of Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, northern 
Columbia, while a large percentage is also supplied by the West 
Indies. Southern Brazil sends its bananas to Uruguay and Ar¬ 
gentina, while southern Australia and New Zealand are supplied 
by Queensland and the South Sea Islands. 

The banana has been successfully grown in a few sheltered and 
frost-free spots of Southern California and Florida, where the 
fruit has matured to fair size, having a delicious and mellow flavor. 


THE BREAD FRUIT 

With the cocoanut and the banana, the bread fruit (artocarpus 
communis) forms one of the three leading staple foods of the 
tropics, especially in the South Sea Islands, Ceylon, and in some 
parts of southern India. The fruit is also cultivated on a small scale 
in the West Indies, the coast regions of Mexico, Central America, 
and tropical South America. The tree, which reaches a height of 
from 40 to 60 feet, is one of the handsomest of the tropics. It has 
large ovate, leathery leaves which are entire at the base, and have 
from three to nine lobes toward the upper end. Male and female 
flowers are produced on the same tree. The ripe fruit, which is 
composed of the matured ovaries of the female flowers, is round 
or oval in form, generally from four to eight inches in diameter. 
It is green when immature, but turns brownish and yellow while 
ripening. The pulp is fibrous, pure white in the immature fruit 
and yellowish in the fully ripe state. The fruit grows on small short 
branches, commonly in clusters of two or three. It is often 
eaten before it becomes ripe, while the pulp is still white and mealy 
and of a consistency between that of bread and sweet potatoes. 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


205 


Some of the South Sea islanders bake it by means of heated stones 
in a hole, with layers of stones, bread fruit, and green leaves 
alternating. 

It is similar to the banana in food value, and takes the place 
of bread in the Pacific Islands. 

Ripe bread fruit from Samoa, of the seedless variety, shows the 
following analysis: 


Total solids 
Fat 
Sugar 
Starch 


26.90 per cent 
0.50 “ “ 

14.60 “ 

9.20 “ “ 


Protein 

Mineral Matter 
Crude fiber 


1.57 per cent 
1.15 “ “ 

1.00 “ 


THE CAROB 


The carob tree (ceratonia siliqua) whose fruit is commonly 
known as St. John’s bread, is a native of the shores of the Medi¬ 
terranean Sea. It is found chiefly in the islands of Sicily, Cyprus, 
Malta, the southern part of Sardinia, and the Adriatic coast of 
southern Italy. The Spaniards brought it to Mexico and South 
America, and the English to South Africa, Australia and India. 

The carob was introduced into the United States in 1860. About 
8,000 plants were distributed, which were sent mostly to the Middle 
and Southern States, and a few reached California. In Southern 
California bearing carob trees are frequent. Experience has shown 
that the trees, when young, are no hardier than orange trees. When 
once established, however, the carob is more resistant to frost than 
the orange. 

The carob belongs to the legume family, and is the only species 
of the genus Ceratonia, derived from the Greek, keronia, meaning 
horn, referring to the form of the pod. The tree is a handsome 
evergreen, 40 to 50 feet high, with large compound leaves. The 
reddish or yellowish flowers appear from October to December, 
although the blooming season may extend much later. As a rule, 
male flowers are on one tree and female flowers on another, although 
occasionally trees are found that produce male and female flowers 
in one cluster. 

In Europe the wild-growing carob pods have been used exten¬ 
sively as a food for cattle, but on account of the large amount of 
fiber, only to a small extent as a food for man. There is no 
reason, however, why the carob, by cultivating varieties that show 


206 


RATIONAL DIET 


a minimum amount of crude fiber, should not be utilized more 
commonly as a human food. 

It is one of the most prolific bearing trees, and according to 
chemical analysis, one of the most nutritious foods. The average 
of sixteen analyses of the dried pods shows the following contents: 

Water 11.50 per cent Nitrogen free extract 

Protein 4.50 44 “ other than sugar 36.30 per cent 

Fat 2.37 “ “ Crude fiber 8.78 4 4 44 

Sugar 34.31 44 44 Mineral matter 2.72 44 

Some of the varieties examined had a sugar content of 45 and 
50 per cent, while the crude fiber was as low as 3.14. Small quan¬ 
tities of carob are annually imported from Europe, but thus far 
the food has met with little favor by the American people, largely 
because the quality is poor and the pods too hard and dry. The 
carob can be softened in water, the seeds removed, and the pulp 
ground in a food chopper. In this form it may be mixed easily 
with dried fruits, such as figs, raisins or dates, to which a few 
chopped nuts may be added. 

It is reported that trees from 25 to 30 years old yield from 450 
to 550 pounds of pods annually. Large plantings of the carob tree 
have been made recently in Riverside County, Southern California. 

CACTUS FRUIT OR PRICKLY PEAR 

The prickly pear (opuntia tuna) sometimes called Indian fig, 
is found throughout California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, and 
northern Mexico, and is grown also in Italy, Sicily and northern 
Africa. It is a purplish fruit, having a succulent, juicy pulp. The 
spines, covering the skin of the fruit, can be burned off easily by 
means of a candle flame. The fruit is eaten in large quantities by 
the Indians and Mexicans. The composition is: 

Water 79.2 per cent Sugar 11.7 per cent 

Protein 1.4 4 4 4 4 Fiber 3.7 44 “ 

Fat 1.3 4 4 4 4 Mineral Matter 2.7 44 “ 

A distinction should be made between the prickly pear and the 
smooth, spineless fruit, which is superior in quality, as well as 
unarmed with prickles, and, therefore, readily handled and eaten. 
Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, California, has undertaken a great 
deal of special work with the cactus, both for fruitage and forage 



THE CHERIMOYA (CUSTARD APPLE) (see page 207) 







FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 207 

purposes, and his remarkable success has attracted widespread 
attention. 


TEE CHERIMOYA (CUSTARD APPLE) 

The cherimoya (annona cherimola) belongs to the family of 
tropical fruits, called “annonas,” composed of more or less coher¬ 
ent fleshy carpels, or parts. About fifty species are known, several 
of which are widely cultivated, but the fruit has not yet achieved 
the commercial prominence that it merits. Experience in exporting 
the fruit from Madeira to the United States has demonstrated that 
it can be shipped without difficulty. No doubt there will be an 
increasing demand for this wonderful fruit when a regular supply 
is available. Mark Twain characterized the cherimoya as ‘‘deli¬ 
ciousness itself.’’ Wilson Poponoe in his “Manual of Tropical 
and Sub-tropical Fruits” describes it as follows: 

“The fruit is of the kind known technically as a syncarpium. 
It is formed of numerous carpels fused with the fleshy receptacle. 
It may be heart shaped, conical, oval or somewhat irregular in form. 
In weight it ranges from a few ounces to five pounds. The surface 
of the fruit in some instances is smooth; in others, it is covered 
with small, conical protuberances. It is light green in color. The 
skin is very thin and delicate, making it necessary to handle the 
ripe fruit with care to avoid bruising it. The flesh is white, tender 
in texture, and moderately juicy. Numerous brown seeds, the size 
and shape of a bean, are imbedded in it. The flavor is sub-acid 
and delicate, suggestive of the pineapple and the banana.” 

The cherimoya seems to be indigenous to Central America and 
tropical South America. It is now found in many parts of Mexico, 
where it grows most abundantly at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet, 
where the climate is cool and dry. The climate of Southern Cali¬ 
fornia in protected places, where no heavy frosts occur, is also 
suitable for its cultivation. In Montecito, near Santa Barbara, a 
number of trees are doing well and producing fruit. The cherimoya 
contains about 20 per cent of fruit sugar and is especially rich 
in potassium salts, making the fruit strongly alkaline. The acid 
content is very low, amounting to only 0.13 malic acid. 

TEE COW TREE 

A rather peculiar tree may be mentioned here—the cowtree 
(brosimum galactodendron), indigenous to tropical America, where 
it is known as “palo de vaca.” It grows abundantly in the 


208 


RATIONAL DIET 


Cauca Valley in the South American Republic of Colombia. 
It belongs to a genus of eight species of fruit-bearing trees 
(brosimum) and derives its name from a rather thick milky sub¬ 
stance which exudes from the tree after an incision is made. 
This milk, which is slightly acid in reaction, resembles milk, or 
rather cream, more than any other substance derived from the 
vegetable kingdom. According to Boussingault, a French chemist, 
the chemical analysis of the milk is as follows: 

Water 58.0 per cent 

Fat (wax and other substances, liquify¬ 
ing at 120 degrees F.) 35.2 

Sugar 2.8 

Casein 1.7 “ “ 

Mineral matter and organic acids 2.3 

The mineral matter includes a considerable amount of lime and 

magnesia. The milk, which is used largely by the Indians of South 
America, is a most palatable and nourishing food. 

THE FIG 

The original home of the cultivated fig (ficus carica) corre¬ 
sponds closely to that of the olive. The fig family is one of the 
largest in the vegetable world. Botanists have identified and 
described more than 600 species, but very few of these produce 
edible fruits. The extreme ease with which it can be cultivated 
from cuttings, its resistance to heat and drought, its early bearing, 
its value as human food, had in the early ages much to do with its 
wide dissemination. 

The fig occupies a unique and peculiar position among the fruits. 
It is really what is known to botanists as a receptacle, upon the 
inner surface of which are arranged hundreds of flowers, which 
are, therefore, hidden from the outer world. In the case of the 
Smyrna fig, these flowers are unisexual, and the female flowers 
depend for pollination on the fig wasp (blastophoga). As it is 
necessary to shelter the fig insect the whole year round, nature 
has wisely provided that the capri fig trees bear through the winter 
on their leafless branches the so-called winter generation, or mamme 
capri figs, from which the fig insects issue forth in early spring. 

The fig, like nearly all the semi-tropical fruits which are now 
cultivated in Europe and America, appears to have originated 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


209 


somewhere in western Asia. Almonds, nuts, apricots, peaches, 
olives, Asiatic grapes, dates, figs, prunes, etc., all seem to have 
been brought to great perfection in Asia, several thousand years 
before the Christian era. Traces of a very ancient and re¬ 
markable civilization have been found existing about ten thousand 
years ago in the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. Here appear 
to have originated all our best fruits, nuts, vegetables and cereals, 
on which the western world now depends so much for its sus¬ 
tenance. 

From Asia the fig was carried to the shores and the large 
islands of the Mediterranean Sea. Toward the end of the Roman 
Empire, at the close of the fifth century, the fig was well distribu¬ 
ted as far as the Atlantic Coast, the Channel Islands, and perhaps 
over some favorable places of southern England. But nowhere 
else had the cultivation and drying of figs reached so high a 
degree of development as in Syria, and some parts of western 
Asia Minor. 

Through the far East the fig is supposed to have reached China 
during the reign of the Emperor Tschang-Kien, who fitted out an 
expedition to Turan in the year 127 A. D. The fig has been men¬ 
tioned by Chinese writers in the eighth century. 

With the discovery of the New World, the edible fig obtained 
a foothold in all the countries visited by the Spanish and Portu¬ 
guese missionaries. Figs of different and distinct species were 
found by them, growing in the tropical parts of Mexico, Central 
America, and South America, but these native figs were inferior 
to those brought over the Atlantic. It is to these Spanish mission¬ 
aries that we owe the introduction of figs into California, and the 
Black Mission Fig is still one of the most important and widely 
distributed varieties in all the American countries visited by the 
missionaries from Spain. The Black Mission fig, which was origi¬ 
nally planted in an isolated way as a shade tree near farm houses, 
is now cultivated in large commercial orchards, principally in the 
interior valleys of California. The tree is a very prolific bearer, 
and its fruit is becoming more popular every year. Indeed, few 
fruits are so well balanced in food principles, so rich in blood build¬ 
ing elements as are black figs. Chemical analysis shows a remark¬ 
able similarity between the composition of human milk and the 
fresh fig, especially in regard to the proportion of the organic salts. 


210 


RATIONAL DIET 


The Smyrna Fig was first introduced into California in the 
winter of 1881, when 14,000 cuttings, including several of the best 
varieties, were imported by the San Francisco Bulletin Company. 
A large number of the cuttings was distributed to 3,000 country 
subscribers of the Bulletin, while individual shares went to the 
different partners in the enterprise, notably Governor Stanford. 
Most of his cuttings are on his ranch near Vina, California, now the 
property of Stanford University. Large trees of both types are still 
growing on the place, and have furnished the source of supply for 
thousands of cuttings distributed by the Department of Agriculture. 

The Smyrna Fig orchards of the San Joaquin Valley are made 
up mostly of varieties introduced by G. C. Roeding of Fresno, in 
1888, when an orchard of sixty acres was planted. On account of 
the lack of capri figs furnishing wasps, this orchard was main¬ 
tained at, a loss for several years, the first commercial crop being har¬ 
vested in 1900, following the successful introduction of fig wasps the 
previous year. Since then, large orchards have been established in 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Solid plantings of sev¬ 
eral thousand acres have been made between Fresno and the San 
Joaquin river. Large acreages have also been planted in Tulare, 
Merced, and Stanislaus counties. 

Before the Smyrna fig was established in California, the White 
Adriatic Fig was the most common variety. It was usually planted 
as a border tree along the roadsides, seldom in orchard form, and 
was the only commercial fig before the virtues of the Black Mission 
fig became better known. The Adriatic fig is smaller than the 
Smyrna, and contains less sugar. The fruit flesh has a light straw¬ 
berry color, while the skin is greenish, turning into light yellow 
and brown during the drying process. Like most of the common 
figs, the Adriatic can be caprified, which increases its weight and 
sweetness. Many varieties of Adriatic figs are already cultivated 
successfully throughout the Gulf states, chiefly for home con¬ 
sumption, preserving and canning. The home fruit garden in these 
states usually contains a thrifty tree, which provides for the family 
a liberal supply of fresh figs during the summer months. The 
varieties in most general cultivation are the Celeste, Magnolia, 
Ischia, Brunswick, and Brown Turkey. The Celeste fig is the 
favorite in Louisiana, especially in the vicinity of New Orleans. 

Another variety of figs that has lately come into prominence in 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


211 


California, is the Kadota Fig. Honor and credit for the discovery 
of this remarkable fig, which is distinctly a California creation, 
belongs to the late Stephen H. Taft, of Sawtelle, a member of the 
Centenary Club of Southern California. The original tree of this 
variety, then unknown, discovered and named by Mr. Taft, and 
afterward distributed by him, first appeared in an orchard grown 
by Mr. Cyrus Way of Whittier, near Los Angeles. In the orchard 
of Dottato figs grown by Mr. Way, was one tree of most remark¬ 
able vigor, growth and early production, and in every respect 
superior to the balance of the orchard surrounding it. The dis¬ 
criminating judgment of Mr. Taft immediately recognized in this 
stranger, the very qualities and virtues so long sought by all 
progressive fig growers the world over. The advent of this fig has 
revolutionized the planting and pruning of fig orchards, and 
created a new department of labor—the skilled picking of fresh 
figs. While the Kadota fig is to a large extent canned at present, 
it can also be successfully dried, if proper precautions are taken. 

The dry fig of the future will be hand picked from low-crowned, 
modern grown orchards and the full sugared jelly-ripe fruit cleaned 
and dehydrated by methods superior to sulphuring and sun drying. 
The finished product, semi-transparent, retaining full weight, flavor 
and delicacy, will be offered to the trade in tasteful and attractive 
cartons. Improved methods in production of all commodities 
have always turned out to be cheaper than crude methods, and 
the fig production will be no exception. 

The United States annually imports from the Mediterranean 
countries about 10,000 tons of dried figs, valued at over one million 
dollars; the larger portion of these figs comes from the Smyrna 
district in Asia Minor. In 1920 the total production of dried figs 
in California amounted to about 9,000 tons, which is very small 
as compared with the amount of dried prunes and raisins annually 
produced in the state. About one-third of the California figs are 
of the Smyrna type, and the remainder chiefly Black Mission and 
Adriatic. The decrease of the importation of figs during several 
years of the World War, has greatly stimulated the planting of the 
fruit in California. When these large plantings commence to bear, 
this country will be independent of fig importations, especially 
since better methods of preparing and packing the figs for market 
are being constantly devised. 


212 


RATIONAL DIET 


The fig tree, under proper care and cultivation, gives excellent 
returns. A ten year old black fig orchard produces as much as 
5,000 pounds of dried figs per acre. A full grown Kadota fig tree 
produces over one hundred pounds of figs during the season. 

The dried fig, if free from chemical preservatives, is one of the 
most wholesome and nutritious fruits for children, in place of 
candy, confectionery and starchy foods. It preserves the teeth, 
is easily digested, and prevents constipation. It is food and 
medicine alike, and should, therefore, be used freely in every 
household. 

The following table shows the great nutritive and hygienic 


value of the black fig, compared with human milk, whole wheat and 


white flour. 





Whole 



Human 

Black Figs 

Wheat 



Milk 

Fresh 

Dried 

Bread 

Water 

per cent 

87.75 

79.00 

20.00 

38.40 

Protein 


1.00 

1.50 

5.50 

9.70 

Fat 

tt tt 

3.95 

0.20 

1.00 

0.90 

Starch 

a a 

* 



53.20 

Sugar 

it tt 

6.25 

18.70 

63.00 


Cellulose 

tt tt 



7.30 

1.60 

Organic Salts 

tt t t 

0.45 

0.60 

3.00 

1.50 


Organic Salts in 1000 Parts of Water-Free Substance 




Human 

Black 

Whole 

White 



Milk 

Figs 

Wheat 

Flour 

Potassium 

per cent 

11.73 

10.50 

7.20 

1.82- 

Sodium 

< < < < 

3.16 

9.60 

0.50 

0.08 ' 

Calcium 

it a 

5.80 

3.50 

0.75 

0.43- 

Magnesium 

a a 

0.75 

3.40 

2.80 

0.44 

Iron 

it a 

0.07 

0.60 

0.30 

0.03' 

Phosphorus 

n n 

7.84 

6.30 

10.00 

2.80 

Sulphur 

< < < < 

0.33 

2.70 

0.09 


Silicon 

a 11 

0.07 

2.40 

0.46 


Chlorine 

it a 

6.38 

1.00 

0.07 


Total 

tt it 

34.70 

40.00 

23.10 

5.70 

These figures show the remarkable similarity 

in the 

chemical 


composition of human milk and the fresh fig, especially in regard to 
the proportion of organic salts. While the percentage of fat in 
mother’s milk is higher, the fig contains more fruit sugar, thus fur¬ 
nishing the same amount of heat units per ounce. It will also be 
noticed that the important elements of sodium, iron and sulphur 















KADOTA FIG TREE IN FULL BEARING 



THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LOQUAT (see page 224) 

(One-third Natural Size) 









FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 213 

are contained even in larger proportion in the fig than in milk and 
wheat. 

The growing child, on account of increasing muscular and 
mental activity, needs more of these elements to carry on the pro¬ 
cess of oxidation and elimination. These elements must be more 
frequently renewed than others, and a sufficient supply of them in 
our food is a matter of great importance. In all cases of physical 
and mental exhaustion the fig is, therefore, of exceptional value 
in replenishing the vital forces of the body. 

THE DATE 

What the cocoanut is to the inhabitants of the South Seas, the 
date (phoenix dactylif era) is to the dwellers of the deserts of south¬ 
western Asia and northern Africa. It is but recently that oriental 
methods of date culture have been examined and tested by western 
horticulturists, especially by the United States Department of 
Agriculture. 

In 1902 Professor Walter T. Swingle of the Bureau of Plant 
Industry visited the great date producing regions of Asia and 
Africa and secured numerous offshoots from native trees of the 
finer varieties. These were transplanted in the Coachella Valley, 
Southern California, and when the trees were large enough new 
offshoots were obtained for additional plantings. Professor Swingle 
has the result of his investigations published in an interesting 
Bulletin entitled “The Date Palm,” from which some of the 
following data are taken. 

The cultivation of the date is almost as old as the history of 
civilization. It is fully described on the clay tablets of the ancient 
Assyrians. It was undoubtedly one of their most important food 
plants and every detail of its culture, the operation of pollinating 
the flowers, and even the serving of the fruit at the tables of the 
wealthy were delineated with great accuracy in their paintings and 
wall sculptures. 

The origin of the date palm is not known, but everything points 
to its being native of some of the ravines bordering the deserts of 
northern Africa or Arabia. It is probable that it was first culti¬ 
vated by the Assyrians, afterwards by the Egyptians, and that very 
early its culture became almost a national industry with the Arabs. 

During the seventh century, when the Arabs first invaded North 


214 


RATIONAL DIET 


Africa, and at various intervals until the twelfth century, they 
introduced the use of the camel and thereby rendered it possible for 
the inhabitants of the oases to satisfy all their wants. By growing 
an abundance of dates, which the camels could carry to the more 
fertile regions of the Mediterranean coast countries, the Arabs 
could exchange their surplus product for wheat and barley needed 
in the Sahara for making bread. Thus the cultivation of the date 
palm became of great importance throughout the Sahara desert. 

The Arabs consider their date palms sacred and devote as 
much care to them as they do to their own children. Families which 
own date palms are considered fortunate. The date palm is their 
main food supply. In fact, dates and camel’s milk form the sole 
diet of many tribes in northern Africa and western Asia. These 
people have a wonderful physique and endurance, which is seldom 
found among the meat-eating Europeans. 

The Moors undoubtedly introduced the date palm into Spain, 
where, in spite of the unfavorable climate, it was extensively 
planted during the Saracen domination. The first date palms in 
the New World were grown from seeds carried from Spain by the 
missionaries who accompanied the Spaniards on their voyages 
of discovery and conquest. 

The possibilities of date culture in the United States were sug¬ 
gested by the presence of date palms in Palm Canyon, Coachella 
Valley, about one hundred miles southeast of Los Angeles, the 
only place in the country where palms grow wild. In 1922, the 
U. S. Government set apart Palm Canyon as a national reservation. 
A number of experiment stations have now been established in 
Southern California, Arizona, North Africa, Egypt, India and in 
the dry portions of Brazil, with the result that the culture of the 
date palm has been materially improved. 

Unlike most fruit trees, the date palm has the male and female 
flower on separate trees. If grown from seed, about half of the 
resulting palms are male and half female. If such trees are allowed 
to grow to maturity in this proportion, enough pollen is blown by 
the wind to properly fertilize all the flowers. It would be, however, 
a very expensive method of culture to irrigate and cultivate such 
a large proportion of male trees. The Arabs—and before them the 
Assyrians—learned to pollinate the palm artificially, and with a 
small proportion of male trees to fertilize the flowers of a very 



AN EIGHT YEAR OLD DATE PALM OF COACHELLA VALLEY, 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 










































































































FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


215 


great number of female trees. At the present time the proportion 
followed in commercial planting is that of about one male tree to 
a hundred female trees. 

In all regions, however, where date culture is an important in¬ 
dustry, the date palm is invariably propagated by removing and 
planting the off-shoots or suckers which spring up around the 
base of the trunk. These offshoots reproduce the parent variety 
exactly, and have the great advantage of coming into bearing sooner 
than the seedlings. Offshoots are produced abundantly by young 
date palms, but cease to form when the trees reach the age of ten 
to fifteen years. Usually three or four are left attached to the 
parent plant, any in excess of this number being cut off as fast 
as they form. One offshoot can be removed every year until the 
production has ceased. They are cut away from the parent trunk 
when they are from three to six years old, that is, after they have 
begun to develop individual roots. The leaves are removed, leaving 
only the bud in the center, protected by the leafstalks. No roots 
are left attached to the offshoot, which, when thus reduced to a 
mere stump, can stand much exposure. 

The best time to plant offshoots is late in spring or early in 
summer when the ground is thoroughly warm and when there is 
a long hot season after planting, permitting the young palms to be¬ 
come well established before winter. While it is not necessary to 
shade the young offshoots, the ground must be kept constantly 
wet about their bases. The Arabs water the offshoots every day 
for the first forty days after planting, and then twice a week until 
winter. Even the older trees require a great deal of water, despite 
the fact that date palms are commonly associated with arid sub¬ 
tropical countries. In the Coachella Valley, the water is supplied 
from wells by electric pumps, or from artesian wells, as in the 
lower part of the district, and while a full crop of fruit is not 
produced until the palms are ten or twelve years old, they often 
begin bearing after they are three years old. 

As the dates ripen, they pass through a series of beautiful color 
transformations, turning from green to reddish, then to amber or 
brown. The different established varieties considerably vary in this 
kaleidoscopic change of color; especially do the seedling dates 
present most delightful variations from the tones of rose and 
cherry, deepening to maroon and ebony black. When dates are 


216 


RATIONAL DIET 


beginning to ripen, generally indicated by the appearance of a 
reddish color, the growers cover the clusters with paper bags or 
light cloth to protect the fruit from wasps and moths, and also 
to insure an even ripening and equal distribution of heat. The 
texture of the bags and the heaviness or lightness of the material 
is selected according to the type of date. The softer and juicier 
dates require a light material, while for the harder dates, bags of 
heavy crepe paper are used. These are so made that they can be 
opened, if desired, at the bottom to admit more air. 

In the Coachella Valley, dates begin to ripen in September, and 
the harvest season extends to the first of December. The gardens 
are picked over once every week, eight or ten times in all. This is 
essential to ensure an even ripening of the dates in the same cluster. 
If the fruit were left on the tree, many dates would shrivel and 
become less marketable; and unripe dates are lacking in sweetness 
and flavor. The successful establishment of the date industry in 
Southern California and Arizona made it possible to supply de¬ 
licious fresh dates, which formerly could be found very seldom out¬ 
side of the growing districts. 

The commercial value of the California date crop has been much 
increased by modern processing and packing the dates, so that they 
will keep as well as other dried fruits. The greatest demand for 
California dates is during the holiday season in November and De¬ 
cember. Therefore, most of the fruit must be kept in storage for 
several months before being shipped. As a result of careful studies 
and experiments, the California date growers, assisted by horticul¬ 
tural experts of the government and of several western universities, 
are able to serve the American people with a new sort of cured 
date, far superior to the imported varieties in natural succulence, 
quality, purity and appearance. For this purpose new methods 
of curing and packing were put into practice, totally different 
from those practiced with the fruit of the Arabian deserts and 
Mesopotamia. 

The imported varieties of dates, generally known as Golden 
Bates, are grown along the Shat-el-Arab River and are exported 
from Bassorah to America and Europe in enormous quantities. 
The principal varieties grown for export in this region are the 
TIalawi, Khadrawi, and the Sayer. Of these the Halawi is doubt¬ 
less the best; it is a medium-sized, rather light colored, sticky date, 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


217 


and forms the best grade of the ordinary dates imported into 
America. From the region of Maskat, on the Gulf of Oman, comes 
the FarcL Date of which about 1,000 tons a year are exported, 
mostly to America. It is darker colored and smaller than the 
Halawi, but brings a higher price. 

The Saidy Date of Egypt is a variety of the first rank, adapted 
to commercial culture in Southern California. 

The excellent and very large Tafilet Dates come from Morocco, 
where they grow in the oases east of the Atlas mountains. They 
are found in the markets of England, but are seen very seldom in 
the United States. 

The Deglet Noor is a very late variety which requires an enor¬ 
mous amount of heat in order to mature properly. It does best in 
the interior of the Sahara, where the summers are exceedingly hot. 
It is mostly exported to France. Large plantings of Deglet Noors 
have been made in the Coachella Valley and at the Cooperative Date 
Gardens at Tempe, Arizona, in the famous Salt River Valley. 

There are now numbers of different kinds of dates grown and 
packed in the California and Arizona date districts. They vary in 
degrees of moisture, shape and size, with a wide range of colors 
from light amber to glossy black to suit every taste. The date 
industry in the Coachella Valley and Salt River Valley has excel¬ 
lent prospects. Before the World War the annual importation of 
dates was about 20,000 tons, representing an annual per capita con¬ 
sumption of six ounces. This is a very small amount for a fruit 
with such a high food value, which furnishes a natural sweet in 
place of manufactured sugar and candy. There is no reason why 
the date should not become an integral part of our diet, since large 
areas in the arid southwest are well adapted to its cultivation. 

Dates in their dry state consist mainly of sugar and cellulose. 
Analysis shows the following average composition: 


Water 

14.0 per cent 

Protein 

2.0 “ “ 

Fat 

2.5 “ “ 

Sugar 

70.0 “ 

Cellulose 

10.0 “ “ 

Mineral Matter 

1.2 “ “ 


Supplemented by a few nuts and lettuce leaves, dates make 
a well-balanced ration. The sap of the plant provides a mild 


218 


RATIONAL DIET 


drink, resembling cocoanut milk, which, when fermented, is known 
under the name of “palm wine.” Date palms usually begin to 
bear the third or fourth year after planting, and yield a consider¬ 
able return the fifth year. After the fifth, sixth, or seventh year, 
about 100 pounds per tree can be obtained from most varieties 
without difficulty. A date orchard, in full bearing, with fifty palms 
to the acre will yield about 5,000 pounds of fruit each year. 

Growers in the Coachella valley have been able to sell all the 
good dates they produce at from 25c to 75c per pound. Naturally, 
with the rapid increase of production, these prices cannot be main¬ 
tained, but even at 20c per pound, a gross revenue of $1000 per 
acre represents a profitable investment. Offshoots of good varieties 
are bringing five dollars and more, and are valuable in helping to 
repay the initial cost of starting a plantation. 

Experienced growers figure that it takes at least $1,700 to start 
an acre of dates and $800 more to bring it to five years of age, 
when the first substantial crop may be harvested. 

While the best grades of dates, when in full bearing, can be 
made to pay as much as $2,000 per acre, even the growing of 
ordinary dates, such as those sold in bulk at the fruit stands, 
may prove a paying enterprise if done on an extensive scale where 
land and irrigation are cheap. 

TEE DURIAN 

The Durian tree (durius zibethinus) is a native of the Malay 
region. It is a large and lofty forest tree, somewhat resembling 
an elm in its general character, but with a scaly though smoother 
bark. It has oblong leaves 6 to 7 inches long, leathery in texture, 
shining on the upper surface and scaly on the lower. The fruit 
is round or slightly oval, about the size of a large cocoanut, of a 
green color, and covered all over with short stout spines, the bases 
of which touch each other, and are consequently somewhat hexag¬ 
onal, while the points are very strong and sharp. It is so com¬ 
pletely armed, that if the stalk is broken off, it is a difficult matter 
to lift one from the ground. The outer rind is so thick and tough, 
that from whatever height of the tree it may fall, it is never 
broken. Alfred Russel Wallace gives in his description of the 
Malay Archipelago an excellent idea of this remarkable fruit, 
which may be divided with a heavy knife and a strong hand: 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


219 


11 The five cells which make up the fruit are satiny white within, 
and each filled with an oval mass of cream colored pulp imbedded 
in which are two or three seeds, about the size of chestnuts. This 
pulp is the eatable part, and its consistency and flavor are inde¬ 
scribable. A rich butterlike custard, highly flavored with almonds, 
gives the best general idea of it, but intermingled with it come wafts 
of flavor that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, brown sherry, 
and other incongruities. There is a rich glutinous smoothness in 
the pulp, which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its deli¬ 
cacy. It is neither acid, nor sweet, for it is perfect as it is. In 
fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East 
to experience. 

“It would not, perhaps, be correct to say that the Durian is the 
best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of the subacid 
juicy kinds, such as the orange, grape, mango or mangosteen, whose 
refreshing and cooling qualities are so wholesome and grateful; 
but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavor the durian 
tree is unsurpassed. ’ 1 

An analysis made in the Philippines by W. E. Pratt shows 
the fruit to contain: 


Water 

55.5 per 

cent 

Total solids 

44.5 “ 

i < 

Protein 

2.3 “ 

< i 

Invert sugar 

4.8 “ 

< i 

Sucrose 

7.9 “ 

^ ( 

Starch 

11.0 “ 

(t 

Mineral matter 

1.2 “ 

< i 

Acids 

0.1 “ 

< * 


The chemical body, which is responsible for the very pro¬ 
nounced odor, is probably one of the sulphur compounds with 
some base perhaps related to butyric acid. 

THE FEIJOA 

The Feijoa (feijoa sellowania), a native of the wilds of southern 
Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Argentine, was intro¬ 
duced into southern France in 1890 by E. Andre, a French horti¬ 
culturist, where it succeeded remarkably well. About 1900 it was 
introduced into California, where its cultivation has attracted 
much attention. The feijoa, on account of its small and soft seeds, 
abundance of flesh, and deliciously perfumed flavor, will no doubt 
find a favored place among the sub-tropical fruits now being in¬ 
troduced into Southern California and Florida. The shrub often 





220 


RATIONAL DIET 


reaches a height of fifteen feet, or more. The leaves are similar 
in form and appearance to those of the olive. The upper surface 
is glossy green, the lower, silver gray. The flowers are 1% inches 
in breadth, very gay and handsome. The fruit is round, oval or 
oblong in shape, one to three inches long, dull green in color, 
covered with a white bloom, and sometimes dull red on one side. 
The pulp of the fruit, which is surrounded by a layer of granular 
flesh, is translucent, jelly-like, with twenty or thirty small seeds 
imbedded. The flavor is suggestive of pineapple and strawberry, 
and, when properly ripened, the fruit has a penetrating and de¬ 
lightful aroma. The pulp is frequently made into jam or jelly. 

The feijoa is hardier than many other sub-tropical fruits. It 
has, with little injury, withstood temperatures as low as 15 de¬ 
grees above zero. It does well in a dry climate, if free from ex¬ 
tremely high temperatures. If fully ripened the fruit contains: 


Water About 85.00 per cent 


Sugar “ 

Protein “ 
Fat 

Min. matter “ 
Crude Fiber “ 


10.00 

< < 

< < 

0.80 

< t 

< < 

0.25 

< < 

i < 

0.55 

< < 

< < 

3.40 

< < 

< < 


THE GUAVA 


The Guava (psidium guajava), like the feijoa, comes to us from 
tropical America, but it also does well in sub-tropical countries, 
like southern Spain, Florida and Southern California. The guava 
is a tree-like shrub. The leaves are oblong, elliptic to oval in 
outline, three to six inches long. Flowers are produced on 
branches of recent growth. They are white and about an inch 
broad. The fruit is round, one to four inches long, commonly yel¬ 
low in color, with flesh varying from white to deep pink or sal¬ 
mon-red, containing numerous small hard seeds. The flavor is 
sweet, musky and distinctive in character, and the ripe fruit is 
aromatic to a high degree. 

According to an analysis made by the University of California 
the ripe fruit contains: 


Water 

84.00 per cent 

Protein 

0.76 “ “ 

Fat 

0.95 “ " 

Mineral matter 

0.67 “ “ 

Fiber 

5.57 “ “ 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 221 

THE STRAWBERRY GUAVA 

t 

The Strawberry guava (psidium cattleiannm) originated in 
southern Brazil. It was probably introduced into southern China 
by the Portuguese. From there it was taken to the shores of the 
Mediterranean sea, where it now thrives in southern France, 
Spain and Algeria. In the United States it has been successfully 
cultivated in both Florida and California. The strawberry guava 
is ordinarily a bushy shrub, but sometimes becomes a small tree 
from 20 to 25 feet high. The leaves are elliptical, from two to 
three inches long, thick and leathery in texture, somewhat glossy, 
and deep green in color. The flowers are white and nearly an 
inch broad. The fruit is round, one to 1% inches in diameter, 
purplish red in color, with a thin skin, containing numerous hard 
seeds. The flavor is sweet and aromatic, suggesting that of the 
strawberry. The fruit is often used for jelly-making. An analy¬ 
sis made by the University of California shows the following con¬ 
tents : 


Water 

79.42 per cent 

Protein 

0.88 “ “ 

Fat 

0.80 “ “ 

Fiber 

6.58 “ “ 

Starch 

6.49 “ “ 

Total sugar 

5.06 “ “ 

Mineral matter 

0.77 “ “ 


The plants come into bearing early and should produce a few 
fruits the second or third year after planting. The season of 
ripening in California is from August to October. The mature 
plant withstands severe frosts without injury. Temperatures of 
22 degrees F. have not killed it. 

THE JACK FRUIT 

The Jack Fruit (artocarpus integrifola) which is one of the 
largest fruits grown in the world, often reaching a weight of from 
40 to 50 pounds, belongs to the same genus of trees as the bread 
fruit. The tree is less exacting in regard to climatic requirements 
than the bread fruit tree, as it resists cool weather much better, 
and is, therefore, better adapted to cultivation over a wider area. 
The trunk of the tree attains a height of 60 to 70 feet. The leaves 
are oblong, oval, deep green in color, and from four to six inches 
in length. The flowers, which resemble those of the bread fruit 





222 


RATIONAL DIET 


tree, are commonly produced directly on the back of the trunk 
and larger limbs. The surface of the fruit, which resembles in 
shape that of a very large water melon, and sometimes attains a 
length of two feet, projects directly from the trunk, and the 
thickest branches of the tree are studded with short hard points. 
The fruit is pale green in its immature state, becoming yellow 
and then brownish when fully ripe. Inside, the fruit is divided 
into many small cavities, each containing a seed surrounded by 
the soft pulp which is of a pungent odor and aromatic, spicy 
flavor, resembling that of the banana. The seeds are frequently 
boiled or roasted, then pulverized and used in making biscuit. 

An analysis of the fruit made in Hawaii shows: 

Water 76.80 per cent 

Protein 5.44 “ “ 

Sugar 15.15 “ “ 

Fat 0.45 “ “ 

Acids 0.27 “ “ 

Fiber 1.30 " “ 


The seeds were found to contain: 


Water about 15.00 per cent 


Sugar 

Fat 

Fiber 

Protein 

Carbo-hydrate 

(starch) 

Acids 


15.15 

< t 

< < 

0.24 

11 

11 

1.80 

< < 

< < 

5.44 

< < 

a 

23.53 

11 

t( 

0.16 

(t 

a 


The tree grows wild in the mountains of India and Ceylon. It 
was introduced into Brazil in the seventeenth century and is now 
found in abundance in the region of Bahia. In the latter part of 
the eighteenth century, Jack Fruit trees were planted in Jamaica 
and are now common all over the island. To a smaller extent the 
tree is now grown in the Hawaiian Islands and in southern 
Florida. The California climate has proved unfavorable to the 
tree. 

THE LIT CHI 


The litchi (litchi chinensis) is the favorite fruit of the Chinese. 
In southern China its cultivation dates back more than two 
thousand years. It is now grown extensively, and is familiar to 
millions of people, many of whom prefer it to the orange and 
peach, two of the finest fruits of southern China. The region 





FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


223 


around Canton is considered the most favorable portion of China 
for litchi culture. 


The tree grows to an ultimate height of thirty to forty feet, 
and forms a broad round-topped crown, with glossy, light green 
foliage. The fruit, which grows in loose clusters of from two to 
twenty, or more, has the appearance of a large strawberry, reach¬ 
ing a diameter of 1% inches in the better varieties. The outer 
covering, which is hard and brittle, changes in color from deep 
rose to dark brown, as the fruit dries on the trees. When fresh 
the pulp of the fruit is white, translucent, firm and juicy, and has 
a sub-acid flavor. The litchi nut, as it is generally called in its 
dried state, is really a dried fruit, surrounded by a thin nut-like 
shell, and resembles the Muscat raisin in flavor. It is a favorite 
in China and has become well known in this country since its in- 


troduction by the Chinese. 

When fresh the litchi contains 

• 

• 

Water 

79.00 per cent 

Protein 

1.15 “ “ 

Fat 

0.20 “ “ 

Sugar 

15.30 “ “ 

Mineral 

5.40 “ “ 

When dry this fruit contains: 

Water 

16.00 per cent 

Protein 

2.90 " “ 

Fat 

0.80 “ “ 

Sugar 

78.00 “ “ 

Mineral matter 

1.90 “ “ 


The fruit has an acid content of over 1 per cent. No dinner in 
China is complete without some of these little fruits. 

Experiments have been made to introduce the litchi into 
Florida and Southern California. Although it has taken many 
years to demonstrate the possibilities of the litchi *s fruiting in 
Florida, it is now hoped that with suitable varieties the litchi 
may become the basis of an industry. The first litchi tree to be 
introduced into California is said to have come from Florida and 
was planted by Mr. E. W. Hadley in Santa Barbara about 1897. 
This tree was obtained as a small plant from the nursery of Rea- 
soner Brothers, Oneca, Florida. Mr. E. N. Reasoner states that 
this California tree was originally imported from Saharanpur, 
India. It first fruited in 1913. It is possible that hardy varieties 


224 RATIONAL DIET 

from the hill country of India may prove best adapted to Cali- 
fornia and Florida. 


THE JUJUBE 

The jujube (zizyphus jujuba), like the litchi, is one of the prin¬ 
cipal fruits of China, and has been cultivated for at least 4,000 
years. The jujube is a small, spiny tree, reaching a height of 
twenty to thirty feet. The fruit resembles the date in size and 
form, often reaching a length of two inches, and is covered with 
a thin, dark brown skin. The flesh is whitish, of crisp, or mealy 
texture, and of sweet, agreeable flavor, enclosing, like the date, 
a hard elliptic stone. 

The jujube tree can be cultivated in the interior valleys of 
California, if sufficiently irrigated. While a long, warm summer 
is necessary for the perfect ripening of the fruit, the tree has 
withstood temperatures of 22 degrees F. 

The chemical composition of the jujube is given by the Bureau 
of Chemistry at Washington, as follows: 


Total solids 

31.90 

per 

Sugar 

21.66 

< < 

Protein 

1.44 

< < 

Fat 

0.21 

< < 

Mineral matter 

0.73 

«( 

Fiber 

1.28 

<« 


The late Frank N. Meyer, to whom we are indebted for many 
fine Chinese varieties of this fruit, observed, during his explora¬ 
tions in China, that the jujube could be used in several different 
ways. The fruits of some varieties are excellent to eat when they 
are fresh. Dried, they resemble dates in character; they are often 
called Chinese dates. Jujubes are sometimes boiled with millet and 
rice. They may be stewed or baked in the oven. They are used, 
like raisins to make jujube bread, and they are made into glace 
fruits by boiling them in honey or sugar syrup. 

THE LOQUAT 

The loquat (eriobotrya japonica) is one of the sub-tropical 
fruits that has been recently introduced into the United States. It 
is a true prune fruit and is closely related to the apple, pear, 
quince and medlar. It has the size of a small pear, and the better 
varieties contain three or four large seeds. When quite ripe 





FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


225 


the fruit is of deep yellow, and a very pleasant, acid flavor. The 
amount of fruit acid in the loquat is about 1 per cent, mostly 
malic. 

The loquat has been cultivated in Japan for more than a thou¬ 
sand years, and grows in every district, except the northeastern 
part. It was introduced into California, the Gulf States, and 
Florida about 1880, and since that time has been grown commer¬ 
cially in several counties of Southern California. The tree is a 
very heavy bearer, and in one instance a fourteen acre orchard 
in Orange county, California, produced eighty tons of good fruit. 

The analysis of the edible portion of the best varieties shows: 


Water 

85.00 per cent 

Protein 

0.32 “ “ 

Fat 

0.03 “ “ 

Sugar 

12.00 “ “ 

Mineral matter 

0.36 “ “ 

Crude fiber 

0.37 “ " 


To people living in the temperate zones and travelers in tropi¬ 
cal and sub-tropical countries, the loquat should possess an espe¬ 
cial attraction for it is similar in flavor and character to the 
fruits of the North, as it contains a good deal more fruit acid 
than the average tropical fruits. 

Because of its ornamental appearance alone, the loquat is often 
planted in parks and gardens. It is a small evergreen tree, rarely 
more than 30 feet high, commonly not exceeding 20 or 25 feet. 

THE MANGO 

The mango (mangifera indica) is one of the oldest fruits cul¬ 
tivated by man in the tropical zones. The tree, being evergreen, 
often attains a very large spread and an age of one hundred years 
and more. The fruit, which is shaped like a plum, varies in size 
from a few ounces to several pounds in weight. The skin is 
smooth, and thicker than that of the nectarine, which it resembles 
in color. The flesh is yellow, or orange, and juicy, tasting somewhat 
like a combination of apricot and pineapple. The seeds are large 
and flattened, enclosing a white kernel. 

The average chemical analysis of the mango shows: 


Water 

80.0 

per 

cent 

Fat 0.1 

per 

cent 

Coarse fiber 

5.0 

< < 

11 

Ash 0.4 

< < 

* < 

Sugar 

13.3 

tt 

u 

Acid (malic and tar¬ 



Protein 

0.7 

( i 

i < 

taric) 0.5 

< i 

i < 





226 


RATIONAL DIET 


In the United States mangos can be grown in some of the 
favored foothill sections of Southern California, and in the south¬ 
ern part of Florida. The largest commercial plantings have been 
made in the vicinity of Miami, Palm Beach, and Fort Myers, 
where, during the winter heavy frosts seldom occur. 

The horticultural varieties of the mango are numerous, 
amounting to several hundred. Many of these, however, are of 
limited distribution and little importance. The cultivated mangos 
are usually considered of a single species, mangifera indica. 

THE MANGOSTEEN 

The mangosteen (garcinia mangostana) is a delicious fruit 
about the size of a mandarin orange, round and slightly flattened 
at each end with a smooth, thick rind of rich red-purple color, 
with here and there a bright, hardened drop of the yellow juice, 
resulting from some injury to the rind when immature. It has 
been termed “the finest fruit in the world/’ on account of its 
beautiful coloring, combined with a most delicate and luscious 
flavor. It is extensively grown in the East Indies, particularly 
in Java and Sumatra, but a number of trees have now been plant¬ 
ed in Cuba, Porto Rico, the Canal zone, and lately in some of the 
Central American countries. Like the bread fruit, and a few 
other strictly tropical species, it does not thrive in places where the 
temperature falls below 40 degrees F. 

It contains about 12 per cent sugar, and is rich in alkaline ele¬ 
ments. The rind, or the entire fruit, dried, is used medicinally in 
India. It contains some tannin, and a crystallizable substance 
known as “mangostin.” 

Although the mangosteen is a very delicate fruit, it has an 
exceedingly tough, thick rind, and on this account it is likely to 
be good for shipping. Fruits which were sent to Washington 
from Trinidad, were excellent when eaten twenty-one days later, 
even though they had been out of cold storage over a week. It 
requires a circular cut with a sharp knife to lift the top off like 
a cap, exposing the white segments, five, six, or seven in number 
lying loose in the cup. Professor Fairchild, a noted explorer 
says of the qualities of the fruit: 

1 ‘ The texture of the mangosteen pulp much resembles that of a 
well ripened plum, only it is so delicate that it melts in the mouth 
like a bit of ice cream. The flavor is quite indescribably 
delicious.” 



THE WHITE SAPOTE (see page 235) 



THE MANGO (see page 225) 








FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 227 

THE MAMEY 

The mamey tree (mammea americana), which is related to the 
mangosteen, is one of the most beautiful and conspicuous in the 
West Indies, reaching a height of sixty feet. Its trunk sometimes 
attains a diameter of 3 or 4 feet, while the crown is of a deeper 
and richer green than that of most other trees. The leaves are 
oblong in form, rounded or blunt at the apex, 4 to 8 inches long 
and thick and glossy. The white flowers, which are solitary and 
clustered in the axils of the young shoots, are fragrant and 
about an inch broad. The fruit is oblate or round in form and 
commonly 4 to 6 inches in diameter. It has a slightly roughened 
russet surface and a leathery skin about % inch thick. Surround¬ 
ing the one to four large seeds, and often adhering to them, is 
the bright, yellow, juicy flesh with a subacid and pleasant flavor, 
resembling that of the peach. 

Outside of its native region, it is grown in Mexico and Cen¬ 
tral America. It is also successfully cultivated in Florida as 
far north as Palm Beach, but the mamey is strictly tropical in 
its requirements, and cannot be grown in regions which com¬ 
monly experience frost. The ripening season is in the summer. 

TEE OLIVE 

The cultivation of the olive (olea europaea) goes back into the 
beginning of ancient history. Olives were grown by the Egyp¬ 
tians four thousand years ago. It was a favorite fruit with the 
ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. 

It was first introduced into California from Mexico in 1769 
by an expedition of Franciscan monks, sent to take charge of the 
Jesuit missions. The first seeds of the olive are said to have 
been planted at the Mission San Diego, where they grew and 
prospered. As the Fathers built new missions, the olive was 
always among the trees first planted, cuttings having been sup¬ 
plied from the San Diego Mission. The Mission orchards were 
small, but they laid the foundation of the present olive industry 
of California, which represents about forty thousand acres, or 
nearly two million trees, averaging about fifty trees per acre. 

The principal varieties grown are the Mission, Columbella, 
Manzanillo, Nevadillo, Picholine, Sevillano and Ascolano. The 
last two named are the largest varieties grown. 


228 


RATIONAL DIET 


The large sized olives are used for pickling, and the smaller 
ones for oil extraction. In both cases some of the nutritive ele¬ 
ments of the natural ripe olives are lost. Only in the fully ripened 
sun-dried olives are all the nutritive principles of the olive pre¬ 
served, and, although they still retain some of the bitter taste, 
which is very pronounced in the matured olives while on the 
tree, they are undoubtedly more wholesome than the pickled 
olives. In the pickled product the bitterness is neutralized by 
the application of lye solution. 

At the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of 
California, Berkeley, the following process for pickling ripe 
olives is generally used: 

1. Place the olives in a solution composed of two ounces of 
potash lye to one gallon of water for four hours. Repeat this 
once or twice, if necessary, sufficiently to remove the tartness. 

2. Rinse the olives thoroughly and replace the lye solution 
with fresh water. Change the water twice daily, or until the pot¬ 
ash has been removed from the fruit, as judged by the taste. 

3. Replace the water with brine composed of four ounces of 
salt to a gallon of water, and allow to stand two days. 

4. Put in brine of six ounces of salt to a gallon of water for 
seven days. 

5. Put in brine of ten ounces of salt to a gallon of water for 
two weeks. 

6. Finally put into a brine containing fourteen ounces of salt 
to the gallon. 

The best pickled olives are made without the use of lye, but 
this process is practicable only with varieties such as the Ascolano 
and Columbella, the tartness of which is more easily removed, 
especially when the water is soft and plentiful. Even then it 
is a very slow and tedious process. It differs from the former 
method quoted only in an elimination of the lye. The olives at 
the outset are put in pure water, which is changed twice a day 
until the bitterness is sufficiently extracted. This requires from 
forty to sixty days, or more. 

The best oil is made by crushing the carefully picked olives 
as soon as possible after they are gathered, and while they are still 
perfectly fresh. If they are bruised, or in the slightest degree 
moldy when crushed, the resulting oil will be of correspondingly 
inferior quality. 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


229 


The extraction of oil from fresh olives, however, is somewhat 
troublesome, and in order to facilitate the work it is customary to 
deprive them of a certain portion of their water before crushing. 
This partial drying is also useful when it is necessary to keep the 
fruit for some time before crushing, or to ship it long dis¬ 
tances. In order to hasten the process dehydraters are some¬ 
times used. The olives are placed in a single layer on trays, and 
the dehydrater is kept for about twenty-four hours at a tempera¬ 
ture of about 125 degrees F. The olives must be crushed immedi¬ 
ately upon removal from the dehydrater. 

Ripe olives are composed on an average of: 


Water 

Fat 

Mineral matter 

Protein 

Carbohydrates 


96.6 per cent 
21.0 “ “ 

3.4 “ “ 

2.0 “ “ 

4.0 “ “ 


The mineral matter is very rich in the basic elements of potash, 
lime, magnesia and iron. 

Dried olives contain as much as 5 per cent protein and 50 per 
cent fat, and are equal to nuts in nutritive value. If combined 
with sweet fruits, they make a palatable, wholesome combination. 


THE PAPAYA 


The papaya (carica papaya), often called tree melon, is a giant 
herbaceous plant rather than a tree, and grows to a height of 
25 feet, without lateral branches, but producing deeply lobed 
leaves at the top. The fruit strongly resembles a melon, and at¬ 
tains a length of from three to eighteen inches, sometimes weigh¬ 
ing as much as 20 pounds. The skin is thin and smooth, orange 
yellow to deep orange in color. The flesh is from one to two 
inches thick, of a somewhat deeper color than the skin, en¬ 
closing a large cavity, to the walls of which numerous round, 
blackish seeds are attached. The taste is rather sweet, with a 
slightly musky flavor. In nearly all parts of tropical America 
it is one of the common fruits. It is extensively cultivated in 
Hawaii, and is also successfully grown in the southern part of 
Florida. 


230 


RATIONAL DIET 


A composition of the papaya, grown near Honolulu, shows: 


Sugar 

10.29 

per 

Protein 

0.50 

< < 

Fat 

0.50 

< < 

Acid 

0.07 

< < 

Mineral matter 

0.56 

< < 

Fiber 

0.76 

< < 


THE POMEGRANATE 

The pomegranate (punica grnnatum), like the fig, vine and 
olive, has been grown since the earliest times. It is mentioned 
in ancient Grecian history, antedating the founding of Rome. 
Later on, frequent mention is made of it by Roman writers. Gra¬ 
nada, in Spain, owes its name to its excellent pomegranates. Sub¬ 
sequent to the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, all the 
fruits from old missions in Mexico were carried northward and 
planted in the new mission gardens of California. Since 1850 
new varieties have been introduced, mainly from European coun¬ 
tries and China. 

The pomegranate is also valued as an ornamental tree on ac¬ 
count of its bright, glossy, green leaves and the profusion of its 
beautiful blossoms. The ripe fruit measures from three to six 
inches in diameter, and contains a variable number of small, an¬ 
gular, berry-like fruit bodies, the angularity being caused by 
their large number packed closely together. Each of these fruit 
bodies is covered with a membrane, enclosing a fruity mass, very 
rich in juice. The rind, enclosing the fruit bodies, is tough and 
leathery and varies in color from pale yellow to deep, purplish 
red. 

Analysis of the fruit by the California and Hawaiian Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Stations show the composition of the edible 
portion as follows: 

Water 76.8 per cent 

Protein 1.5 “ “ 

Fat 3.0 “ “ 

Sugar 14.0 to 16.0 “ “ 

Crude fiber 3.0 to 4.0 “ “ 

Mineral matter 0.6 “ “ 

The acid content, chiefly citric, ranges from 0.6 to 1 per cent, 
or similar to that of sweet strawberries. The sweet pomegranate 








FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


231 


possesses a delicate fresh crispness of flavor, almost unrivaled 
among fruits. As yet the demand for pomegranates is not very 
large, due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the public as to 
the merits of the fruit. 


THE PERSIMMON 


This delicious fruit comes to us from China and Japan, where 
several hundred varieties are cultivated. Persimmons belong to 
the Ebony family, and to the genus diospyros , from the Greek 
words, dios and pyros, suggestive of the life-giving principles of 
the fruit. The Japanese consider it to be one of their best fruits, 
while the Chinese also value it highly and devote large areas to 
its production. The first trees were brought to the United States 
in 1870, and at present there are a number of commercial orchards 
in Southern and Central California, besides many trees found in 
home orchards. There is no doubt that it will soon assume an im¬ 
portant position among the orchard fruits of California and the 
Gulf States. 

The fruit in size and color somewhat resembles the tomato. It 
has a thin, membranous skin, enclosing a soft, reddish pulp of 
very sweet and pleasant flavor, in which are imbedded from four 
to eight elliptic, soft, flattened, dark brown seeds, although seed¬ 
less fruits are found frequently. The astringency of the unripe 
persimmon is due to the presence of soluble tannin, which disap¬ 
pears in the ripening process. 

The season of the persimmon extends from October to Janu¬ 
ary. Chemical analysis shows that the edible portion of the fruit 
contains on an average: 


Water 

Protein 

Sugar 

Fat 

Crude fiber 
Mineral matter 


80.21 per cent 
1.36 “ “ 

15.13 “ “ 

0.57 “ “ 

2.08 “ “ 

0.65 “ “ 


In Japan certain varieties are used extensively for drying. 
The finished product somewhat resembles the dried fig in char¬ 
acter and is almost as delicious. They are picked with a bit of 
stem attached, peeled, tied together by the stems with string and 
hung up to dry, a process requiring about three weeks. After 
this they are sweated for a few days. This causes a heavy coat- 





232 


RATIONAL DIET 


ing of sugar to crystallize on the surface, the resultant product 
being a pleasing sweetmeat and a wholesome confection. The 
fresh fruit has brought so high a return in California that 
growers have not bothered to dry it. With the increase in plant¬ 
ings, it is probable that this practice will become a lucrative one. 

The Northern California fruit is practically all shipped out, 
there being no local demand. Hawaii, San Francisco and New 
York consume all that is produced. In Southern California, the 
local markets in Los Angeles and neighboring cities take all the 
fruit that is grown. 

Based on the experience of growers, mature, bearing orchards 
will yield, under good care and management, from twelve to 
fifteen tons of fresh fruit per acre a year, depending upon 
variety and the distance apart the trees are set in the orchard. 
A forty-year-old Maru tree on the property of J. B. Adams at 
Newcastle, California, has borne as much as 800 pounds of fruit in 
one year, an exceptional figure not to be taken as a basis for nor¬ 
mal orchard returns. Two acres on the same place, at about ten 
years of age, have yielded as high as $1,380. The price received 
for persimmons has been uniformly good for many years, averag¬ 
ing from 6 to 7 cents per pound. For extra fine Hachiya fruit, a 
grower in Orange county, Southern California, has received 12% 
cents per pound on the ranch. 

TEE PINEAPPLE 

The pineapple (ananas sativus) is a multiple fruit, an aggre¬ 
gate of many small individual fruits, the number of which deter¬ 
mines the size of the pineapple. At a certain period of the 
growth of the plant, the center, or the last-formed leaves, as¬ 
sumes a bright red color, and instead of forming more leaves, the 
flowerhead appears on a stalk, which is a direct elongation of the 
plant stem. The flowers, which are small, are of a violet or 
purple color. In the further growth the flowerhead loses its 
bright red color, and the terminal leaves form the rosette, or 
crown, that is on top of the fruit. Later, buds may appear on the 
stem below the fruit which develop into slips. The plant bears 
but one fruit, and the next crop must be produced by a new set of 
plants. The leaf of the pineapple plant, which attains a length 
of about two feet, in some varieties is nearly smooth, while in 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


233 


others the margins are covered with spines, evidently intended 
by nature as a protection against insects. For cultivation, how¬ 
ever, the spineless is far preferable. 

About 10,000 plants can be grown on a well cultivated acre of 
land, which will on an average yield 9,000 fruits, from 3% to 5 
inches in diameter, and from 6 to 8 inches long, weighing from 2 
to 4 pounds each. 

Most of the fruit is picked quite green for canning purposes, 
but the more nearly ripe the pineapple is allowed to become be¬ 
fore gathering, the better its flavor and the higher its sugar con¬ 
tent will be. Some of the fruit cut when immature may ripen, 
but the quality will not improve. 

Ripe pineapples contain on an average: 

Water 85.00 per cent 

Protein 0.50 “ “ 

Sugar 13.00 “ “ 

Mineral matter 0.30 “ “ 

In the latter the elements of potassium, calcium and magnesium 
predominate. 

TEE SAPOD1LLA 

The sapodilla (achras sapota) is one of the best of tropical 
fruits. It is grown abundantly in the lowlands of Southern Mex¬ 
ico, Tabasco, Chiapas, also in Guatemala, San Salvador and 
Honduras. It is also found on the western coast of India, in Ben¬ 
gal and Ceylon. In the most southern part of Florida and on the 
Florida Keys many trees have been cultivated successfully. 

The fruit is variable in form, commonly round, and is from 
2 to 3 Y 2 inches in diameter. It has a rather thick skin, is brown 
to greenish brown in color, granular in texture, and very juicy. It 
has a characteristic odor and flavor, and is very sweet. The seeds 
are from nine to ten, or twelve, in number, and are hard and 
black and about three quarters of an inch in length. They are 
easily separated from the flesh. 

A chemical analysis of the fruit gives the following figures: 


Water 

75.00 per cent 

Protein 

0.87 “ “ 

Fat 

0.55 “ “ 

Sugar 

20.00 “ “ 

Mineral matter 

1.00 “ “ 

Fiber 

1.60 “ “ 


234 


RATIONAL DIET 


The sugar is composed of saccharose, dextrose and levulose. 
The sapodilla is rich in potash, lime and chlorine; it also contains 
a small amount of acid. 

The common name sapodilla, by which the fruit is known in 
Florida, is taken from the Spanish zapotillo, meaning small zap - 
ote. In Mexico the usual name is chicozapote, often abbreviated 
to chico. 

Experiments have shown that the fruit can be shipped suc¬ 
cessfully, if properly packed. The skin is thin and delicate and 
the fully ripe fruit is injured very easily; but if picked while 
still firm in texture, it does not begin to soften for several days. 

THE SAP OTE 

The sapote (calocarpum mammosum) is another of the impor¬ 
tant fruits of Central American lowlands. It is this fruit that is 
said to have kept Cortez with his army alive on his famous march 
from Mexico City to Honduras. The tree often attains a height of 
60 feet and more, with a thick trunk and short branches. The fruit 
is oval in form, from three to six inches long, and has a thick and 
woody skin of russet brown color. The flesh is firm, salmon pink 
to reddish-brown in color, and finely granular in texture. The 
large elliptic seed can be removed as easily as that of a free stone 
peach or avocado. 

In chemical analysis it resembles the sapodilla, but it is sweeter, 
and lacks acid. 

Outside of its native area, the sapote is grown in the West 
Indies, South America, and in the Philippines. In Cuba it is 
particularly abundant and the fruit is highly esteemed. Experi¬ 
ments in cultivating the sapote is southeastern Florida have not 
been successful. In the different districts the fruit is known under 
various names. In the French West Indies it is known as grosse 
sapote , in Cuba as mamey Colorado , in southern Mexico and Cen¬ 
tral America as zapote , (derived from the Aztec name, tzapotl) 
and in the Philippines as chico-mamey. 

The Green Sapote (calocarpum viride), common in the Guate¬ 
malan highlands, is also found in Honduras and Costa Rica. 
It is superior in flavor to its congener the sapote, but it is much more 
limited in its distribution. 


FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 235 

THE WHITE SAPOTE 

The white sapote (casimiroa edulis) is a common fruit of the 
Mexican and Central American highlands where it ranks among 
the principal cultivated fruits. Outside of this region it is not 
well known, although, in recent years, it has to a small extent been 
cultivated in Southern California and Florida. 

The tree is medium-sized, erect or spreading, having palmately 
compound leaves, small inconspicuous flowers and yellowish-green 
fruits, the size of an orange. The fruits have a thin membraneous 
skin, yellowish flesh of soft melting texture, sweet or slightly 
bitter flavor, and one to five large oval elliptic seeds. 

An analysis of the fruit made at the University of California 
shows it to contain: 


Water 

74.74 

per 

cent 

Protein 

0.87 

< < 

< < 

Total sugars 

21.75 

< < 

t < 

Fat 

0.55 

< t 

i t 

Starch 

1.62 

< t 

i c 

Mineral matter 

0.47 

< < 

< i 


THE SOUR-SOP 

The sour-sop (annona muricata), Spanish guanabana, is a 
small tree, slender in growth and rarely more than 20 feet high. 
It is strictly tropical and succeeds best in the tropical lowlands. 
The leaves are elliptic in form, commonly 3 to 6 inches long, leath¬ 
ery in texture and glossy. The fruit is the largest of the annonas, 
varying from 3to 12 inches in length. Specimens weighing five 
pounds are not uncommon, and much larger ones have been re¬ 
ported. It is heart-shaped or oblong conical in form, deep green 
in color, with numerous short spines on the surface. The skin 
has a very bitter flavor. The flesh is white, having the appearance 
of wet cotton, but very juicy and highly aromatic. Numerous 
brown seeds, much like those of the cherimoya, are embedded in 
it. The flavor suggests that of the pineapple and the mango. The 
fruit is highly esteemed for making cooling summer beverages. 
In the West Indies a very popular drink Champola de Guanabana , 
is made by macerating the fruit with sugar, diluting with water, 
and straining off the pulp. 


236 


RATIONAL DIET 


The chemical analysis of the edible portion of the fruit shows 
on an average: 


Water 

80.00 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.65 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

0.50 

<« 

< < 

Sugar 

14.00 

< < 

< < 

Fiber 

1.50 

i < 

< < 

Mineral matter 

0.86 

< < 

< < 

Acid 

0.50 

t < 

<« 


The sour-sop is indigenous to the West Indies, as well as to the 
mainland of South America. At present it is more popular in 
Cuba than in any other part of the tropics. In the United States, 
it can be grown only in southern Florida, where with the proper 
protection it thrives at Miami and even as far north as Palm. Beach. 
The tree, if grown from seed comes into bearing when three to four 
years old. 

THE SWEET-SOP 

The sweet-sop (annona squamosa), also called sugar-apple, 
does not attain the size of either the sour-sop or the cherimoya. 
The tree is also smaller than that of most other species of the an- 
nonas, its maximum height being 15 to 20 feet. The fruit is round, 
heart-shaped, ovate or conical, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and yellow¬ 
ish in color. The surface is tuberculated and covered with a whit¬ 
ish bloom. The pulp is white, custard-like, sweet and slightly acid¬ 
ulous in flavor, but it is not equal to the cherimoya in delicious- 
ness. The carpels, each of which normally contains a brown seed, 
the size of a small bean, cohere loosely or not at all, differing in 
that respect from the cherimoya, in which it is difficult to distin¬ 
guish carpellary divisions in the flesh. 

The chemical composition of the sweet-sop is similar to that of 
the cherimoya. Alice R. Thompson, who has analyzed the fruit in 
Hawaii, has found it to contain: 


Water 

75.12 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.53 

< < 

< 4 

Fat 

0.54 

«< 

( ( 

Total sugars 

18.15 

< ( 

( ( 

Fiber 

1.22 

< < 

( 4 

Mineral matter 

0.80 

< < 

( l 

Fruit acids 

0.12 

< < 

( < 


The sweet-sop is indigenous to tropical America. It also grows 
abundantly in India. It is a popular fruit in the lowlands of Mexi- 







FRUITS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


237 


co. It is likewise found in the Philippines and Hawaii. In Austra¬ 
lia it is grown throughout a considerable part of coastal Queens¬ 
land. It has been grown successfully in southern Florida, from 
Punta Gorda on the west coast and Palm Beach on the east to Key 
West. 

THE STAR-APPLE 

The Star-apple (chrysophyllum cainoto) is a common door- 
yard tree in the West Indies. It is popular in Cuba where it is 
also cultivated for its ornamental value. On the deep, rich soils 
of the Island, the tree sometimes reaches 50 feet in height, although 
in southern Florida, it rarely exceeds 30 feet. The leaves are oval 
about four inches in length, deep green and glossy above, and 
golden brown, with a sheen like that of satin, beneath. The small 
flowers are purplish-white in color. The fruit attains the size of 
a small apple, averaging 7 ounces in weight. The surface is smooth, 
somewhat glossy, dull purple in some varieties, light green in oth¬ 
ers. It has two distinct kinds of pulp; the inner one, a white 
gelatinous mass containing the small black seeds, is the edible por¬ 
tion, constituting only one-third of the fruit, the outer fibrous pur¬ 
ple portion not being very palatable. When the fruit is cut in 
halves, the segments present a star-like appearance, hence the 
name. Both kinds of pulp are sweet, but are lacking in acidity. 
An analysis made by Alice R. Thompson in Hawaii shows the 
ripe fruit to contain: 


Water 

88.50 

per 

Protein 

2.35 

< < 

Fat 

1.38 

11 

Total sugars 

4.40 

l c 

Fiber 

0.85 

( t 

Mineral matter 

0.40 

l ( 

Acids 

0.12 

< ( 


The tree grows wild throughout the West Indies and in 
Central America. It is also cultivated in these countries, as well 
as in South America, Mexico, southern Florida, and to a limited 
extent, in Hawaii. 

THE TAMARIND 

The tamarind (tamarindus indica), like the carob, is the fruit 
of a leguminous tree. The fruit is a dark brown pod, from one 
to six inches long and from three-quarters to one inch in width. 
Small indentations on the pod roughly mark the location of the 





238 


RATIONAL DIET 


seeds within. The exterior skin is thin and very brittle. Within 
there is a thick, dark-colored pasty material closely surrounding 
the seed sacks and joined to the stem of the pod by several coarse 
fibers. This paste constitutes the edible portion of the fruit, and 
is so intensely sour in taste that the 30 per cent or more of sugar 
it contains is entirely masked and can be detected only by a slightly 
sweet after-taste. In fact, the tamarind is remarkable in that it 
contains a very high content of both acid and sugar. The com¬ 
position, according to Dr. Wiley, is as follows: 


Water 

47.70 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.36 

< < 

< < 

Sugars 

31.43 

(t 

< < 

Mineral matter 

1.56 

< ( 

< i 

Acids 

6.03 

< < 

< < 


The content of silicon is especially high. 

The fruit is imported mostly from the East and West Indies, 
and is used in making refreshing summer beverages. Tamarind 
whey is made by mixing one ounce of the pulp with one and one- 
half pints of warm milk, and is a palatable and nourishing bever¬ 
age. , 

The tamarind is a native of tropical Africa and Southern Asia. 
It has long been cultivated in India and was easily introduced into 
tropical America. It has been successfully grown in southern Flor¬ 
ida, and as far north as the bay region of Tampa. 


CHAPTEK III 


NUTS 

Next to fruits, nuts are the most essential foods in a well- 
balanced and wholesome diet. Nuts are highly nutritious, in 
fact, they are the most concentrated foods of nature, in their 
dry state containing on an average: 

Water 5. per cent 

Protein 20. “ “ 

Fat 50. “ 

Mineral matter 2. “ “ 

With the exception of the chestnut, nuts contain but a small 
percentage of starch. As in all seeds, the mineral matter of nuts 
contains a large amount of phosphoric acid, potash and magnesia, 
while they are deficient in sodium, lime and chlorine. They should, 
therefore, always be eaten with fruits or green leaf vegetables to 
make up for this deficiency. 

Nuts are often used as a dessert after a heavy meal. In this 
case they are harmful, as they require the full action of the 
digestive juices. Combined with fruits or vegetable salads, nuts 
make a complete meal in themselves, and their indigestibility in 
most cases must be attributed to lack of wisdom in the choice of 
food eaten with them. If nuts are thoroughly masticated and used 
in small quantities, and well combined, they are easily digested and 
utilized by the human body. 

Attention has been directed to some interesting experiments 
of Professor Myer E.'Jaffa, of the University of California. The 
nutritive value of the fruit and nut diet was demonstrated 
most clearly with a young University student, who, though 
entirely unaccustomed to such fare, gradually changed from an 
ordinary mixed diet to one of fruit and nuts, without apparent 
loss of health or strength. He was then able for eight days to 
perform his usual college duties, and during a part of the time to 
perform heavy physical work on exclusive fruitarian diet, with¬ 
out material loss of weight. 

It should also be mentioned here that in all cases where the 


239 


240 


RATIONAL DIET 


diet was limited in variety, consisting of combinations of only one 
or two fruits with one kind of nuts, the subject complained of a 
constant craving for something else such as green vegetables or 
cereals. At such times it was found that the coefficients of digesti¬ 
bility were lower than those recorded when he ate vegetables, 
or cereals, which made the diet more appetizing. 

Scientific investigations prove that all the nuts, especially in 
the form of unroasted nut butter, furnish a relatively high amount 
of basic amino acids, and that nut proteins are of a high biological 
value. The investigators observed normal growth and sleek appear¬ 
ance of young rats on diets in which the coco^nut and peanut 
furnished the sole source of protein. Osborne and Mendel have 
maintained rats for long periods, in which the protein of the diet¬ 
ary was derived from the Brazil nut. 

Professor F. A. Cajori, who conducted a number of experiments 
at the Sheffield laboratory, Yale University, observed satisfactory 
growth in young rats on diets in which the almond, English wal¬ 
nut, filbert, and pine nut, respectively, furnished the essential 
source of protein in the ration. 

Normal growth can be secured when rats are fed upon other¬ 
wise adequate diets, containing the almond, English walnut, black 
walnut, Brazil nut, chestnut, or pecan, as the sole source of water 
soluble vitamin. Animals that have declined on a diet devoid of 
water soluble vitamin, promptly recover when the almond, English 
walnut, filbert, hickory nut, pine nut, chestnut and pecan were in¬ 
troduced. These observations indicate that nuts are sources of 
abundant quantities of water soluble vitamin. The protein of the 
almond, English walnut, pine nut, or filbert, furnishes the necessary 
nitrogenous compounds for the elaboration of milk in female rats. 

Likewise, Professor Hoobler has concluded from his experi¬ 
ments that diets containing almonds, English walnuts, pecans and 
peanut butter as a source of protein, are as suitable for milk pro¬ 
duction as diets which furnish protein from animal sources. In 
other words, nuts seem to furnish the nitrogenous compounds nec¬ 
essary for milk elaboration as effectively as any other type of pro¬ 
tein. Furthermore, nuts or nut butter, made from the unroasted 
whole nut, furnish us the necessary proteins and fats combined 
with organic salts in the purest form, and, therefore, are superior 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 241 

to the extracted or isolated fats, whether of animal or vegetable 
origin. 

These conclnsions are confirmed by Professor Cajori, who found 
in his metabolic experiments on a number of men, that the proteins 
and fats of nuts were generally absorbed to a large extent. In no 
case did the quantity of nitrogen or carbohydrates in the 
feces indicate that these nuts are especially resistant to the di¬ 
gestive functions of the alimentary canal when the nuts were 
eaten in an emulsified form, as nut butters. 

Emulsification of nuts is artificially obtained by machinery to 
a degree reached only by the most careful mastication. As most 
people have more or less defective teeth, it is seldom that the en¬ 
tire edible nut is reduced by mere mastication to such a state 
as to contain no hard particles when it enters the stomach. Even 
small particles of such concentrated foods as nuts are not easily 
penetrated by the digestive juices, and, consequently, delayed 
cleavage of these particles, which often pass undigested through 
the alimentary canal. Experiments have proved that the coeffi¬ 
ciency of digestibility is from 5 per cent to 10 per cent higher in 
nut butter than in whole nuts, even if well masticated. 

While people who have defective teeth should use nuts in the 
form of nut butter, in which the fats are brought into a state of 
emulsion, attention should be paid to the fact that nut butters are 
frequently made from highly roasted nuts, which contain free 
fatty acids and are often heavily salted. Such preparations are 
not wholesome, as they overtax the liver and kidneys. Nuts that 
enter into the preparation of nut butters should be dried, or evapo¬ 
rated, at a temperature of not more than 160° P. to preserve 
the vitamins and to remove sufficient moisture to make the nuts 
crisp. In this condition the nuts can, by means of a nut mill, be 
converted into a smooth butter, which is easily assimilated and is 
superior in nutritive value to flesh food and dairy butter. 

Recently there have been put on the market different varieties 
of salted nuts. There appears to exist a popular belief that salt 
with nuts prevents the digestive disturbances often arising from 
eating them at inopportune times. To those who have acquired 
the salt eating habit, nothing seems palatable without the addition 
of this condiment, but no proofs have been forthcoming which dem¬ 
onstrate that the digestibility of nuts is improved by the use of salt. 


242 


RATIONAL DIET 


On the contrary, salt retards the digestion of nuts or, indeed, any 
food. 

The real nut butters, manufactured from the entire nut, must 
be always distinguished from the so-called margarine butters 
made of vegetable oils, such as coccanut, peanut and cottonseed 
oils, which are extracted and purified fats with the addition of 
some skim milk and about three per cent of salt, and sold under 
various trade names. Such products may be used occasionally in 
culinary ways, but they can by no means take the place of the 
tissue-building nut butters, made from the entire nuts and con¬ 
taining the organic salts and vitamins necessary to promote growth. 

The total amount spent for nuts by the inhabitants of the 
United States is still very small compared with the amounts spent 
for meats, cereals and dairy products, owing largely to the fact 
that people have not yet learned the proper use of these most con¬ 
centrated food products of nature. Of the fifty million dollars 
paid annually for nuts, about thirty-five million dollars’ worth are 
imported, and only fifteen million dollars’ worth grown in the 
United States. There are great possibilities for the extension of 
nut culture in the United States, especially for the walnut, chest¬ 
nut, filbert and hickory nut. When people realize the great nutri¬ 
tive and hygienic value of nuts and learn to combine them properly 
with less concentrated foods, they will find their place as a part 
of our regular diet, and not serve merely as an ornament of the 
table during the holiday season. With our varied climatic and 
soil conditions in the United States we should certainly provide not 
only for our present needs, but also take care of the increase of pop¬ 
ulation. 

Between 1900 and 1910 the American production of nuts in¬ 
creased two and a half times as quickly as the population, yet 
in addition to this larger home production there was a large in¬ 
crease in nut imports. In 1910 the imports amounted to over sixty 
million pounds, valued at over twelve million dollars, while in 1920 
the nut imports rose to over fifty million dollars, although the yield 
of American nuts increased largely since 1910. Compared with 
the enormous amount the American people pay annually for meat— 
nearly three billion dollars—the sum paid for nuts seems very 
small. For every dollar that goes to the purchase of meat, only 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


243 


two cents are spent for nuts. The time will surely come when 
these figures will be reversed, much to the benefit of the health and 
longevity of man. 

In the following pages the different varieties of nuts, their 
origin, cultivation and nutritive value will be fully described. 

THE ACORN 

The acorn (quercus), the fruit of various species of the oak 
tree, has been used as food for a long time by the Indians of the 
Pacific Coast, from Puget Sound down to old Mexico. They had a 
process of removing the excess tannin, similar to that used in 
treating olives. The bitterness can also be removed by a slight 
process of fermentation, for which purpose the acorns are ground 
into a powder, and mixed with water or milk. This method sac¬ 
rifices less of the nutritive value than that of leaching. 

While the acorn has less protein than cereals, it has a larger 
per cent of fat, and acorn meal is, therefore, often used in combi¬ 
nation with corn meal or wheat flour. 

In the August, 1918, issue of the National Geographic Maga¬ 
zine , Mr. C. Hart Merriam, ex-chief of the U. S. Biological Survey, 
says that one part acorn to four parts corn, or wheat, makes pala¬ 
table bread and muffins, adding the fat of the acorns to the cereals. 
John Muir, “the poet of the Sierras,” during his arduous tramps 
in the mountains of California, often carried the hard dry acorn 
bread of the Indians, and considered it a most compact and strength 
producing food. 

On some parts of the Mediterranean coast occasional species 
of the oak tree produce acorns as edible and nutritious as chest¬ 
nuts. Such oak trees are often grown in grafted orchards, espe¬ 
cially on the Spanish island of Majorca and adjacent portions of the 
mainland, where as large a proportion as twenty per cent of the 
food of the poor people consists of sweet acorns. A coffee substi¬ 
tute is also made from the roasted and ground acorns. 

Although the acorn may not become popular as a food product 
in the United States, at least in the immediate future, the fact re¬ 
mains that the oak tree is one of the heaviest producers of a fruit 
rich in starch and fat. 


244 


RATIONAL DIET 


An analysis of the unbleached acorn meal shows: 


Water 

8.70 

per 

cent 

Protein 

5.70 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

10.60 

«c 

< ( 

Carbohydrates 

65.00 

< t 

< < 

Fiber 

6.63 

t ( 

< < 

Mineral matter 

2.00 

(( 

< < 


The mineral matter consists mostly of phosphate of potash, mag- 
nesia and an appreciable amount of iron. 

According to Dr. Merriam, there are in the United States 
more than 50 species of oaks, of which 30 grow in the Eastern 
States, and about 15 in the State of California. To the native 
Indians of the Golden State, the acorn is, and always has been, 
the staff of life, furnishing the material for their daily mush and 
breads, and when it is remembered that the Indian population of 
California at the time of the establishment of the missions num¬ 
bered not less than 300,000, and that acorns w'ere universally eaten, 
and in most cases were the principal article of diet, some idea 
may be had of the vast quantity and high food value of those an¬ 
nually consumed. 

THE ALMOND 

The almond (prunus communis) is supposed to be native of 
Persia. It is cultivated throughout the countries bordering the 
Mediterranean Sea, which now supply the bulk of the world’s de¬ 
mand. California is now the leading almond growing state of the 
United States, where the total acreage, bearing and non-bearing, 
is 100,000 acres. 

The importation of both shelled and unshelled almonds from 
Europe in 1919-1920 amounted to over 33 million pounds, while 
the California production of the same years was about 10 million 
pounds. The average production of almonds is about 1,000 pounds 
per acre. Intensive, intelligent cultivation would doubtless in¬ 
crease the production after a few years to 1,500 pounds per acre. 
By 1925 California should be able to supply all the almonds con¬ 
sumed in this country. 

The almond resembles the peach somewhat in manner of growth 
and character of blossoms and leaves, but the wood is much harder 
and the tree is longer lived under equally favorable conditions. 
The fruit, instead of having a thick fleshy pericarp, or hull, as in 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


245 


the case of the peach, has a thin, leathery pericarp, which splits 
on ripening, and generally opens when dry, exposing the nut in 
the shell. The principal varieties grown in California are: 

The California Papershell, a light bearing variety in most 
locations. This defect is partially offset by the fact that the waste 
in shelling the nuts is only about 30 per cent. The nut has a good 
flavor and is moderately sweet. 

The Drake was originated by H. C. Drake, Suisun, California, 
on his home place, forty years ago. The tree is a heavy producer. 
The nuts are of medium size and have a thick, but soft shell. The 
pits are rather small, but numerous, two small kernels often being 
found in one shell. 

The I. X. L. Almond, originated by A. T. Hatch, of Suisun, 
California, is one of the best for marketing in the shell because of 
its attractive appearance and uniform size and shape. It is a soft 
shell variety, light colored, which has a tendency to break open at 
the pointed end. The kernels are large, ovate, very broad and flat¬ 
tened, and of fair quality. 

The Languedoc, one of the oldest varieties propagated in Cal¬ 
ifornia, is now largely displaced by other varieties. The shell is 
hard and the kernels angular, plump, smooth, or slightly wrinkled. 

The Ne Plus Ultra, another variety originated by A. T. Hatch, 
is chiefly valuable because of its attractive outside appearance and 
general large size. The shell is thick, corky or crumbly, sometimes 
very ragged. The kernel is reddish brown, oblong, flattened, some¬ 
what wrinkled, and has a mild sweet flavor. 

The Nonpareil, the most valuable of the commercially grown 
varieties of California, is the best known of the three “Hatch 
varieties.” It is chiefly valuable because of its excellence for 
shelling purposes, and its uniform bearing qualities from year to 
year, while it is comparatively hardy and resistant to unfavorable 
conditions. It has a so-called paper shell, containing an oval, broad, 
flattened kernel of large size, of an oily, sweet flavor and excellent 
quality. 

The Jordan, a European variety, grown in Spain, is imported 
to the United States in large quantities. This variety cannot be 
recommended for commercial growth in California, because of the 
great difficulty in shelling, which has to be done mostly by hand, 
and in which we are unable to compete with European labor. An- 


246 


RATIONAL DIET 


other objection is the early blooming habit of the tree and its sus¬ 
ceptibility to frost. The shell is hard, thick and bony; the kernel 
is large, completely filling the shell cavity. The flavor is rich, oily, 
and sweet, and the meat of very excellent quality, all of which 
makes it one of the highest priced nuts on the market. At present 
the Jordan can he recommended only for home orchards. 

The Bitter Almond, which is chiefly grown in Morocco, Sic¬ 
ily and Southern France, is not very injurious when fresh, but 
it has a disagreeable taste, and this, in addition to the fact that one 
of the products of its decomposition is hydrocyanic or prussic acid, 
renders it undesirable. The bitter almond is used in large quanti¬ 
ties in the manufacture of ‘ ‘ bitter almond oil. ’ ’ Much of the prus¬ 
sic acid is removed in the process of cooking, and small quantities 
of this oil may be used for flavoring. 

There are about fifty more varieties cultivated throughout the 
southern part of the United States, but at present California sup¬ 
plies by far the largest percentage of the home grown almonds, 
since its soil and climatic conditions are best adapted to commercial 
production. The sweet almond from a dietetic and hygienic point 
of view, is one of the best nuts. It contains no starch. The fat is 
composed of olein, with some palmitin and stearin. The average 
protein content is about 20 per cent; fat content, 50 to 55 per cent. 

The carbohydrates are made up of about 6 per cent sugar, 3 
per cent gum, and from 6 to 8 per cent of fiber and cellulose. 
The mineral matter is rich in phosphate of potash, lime, magnesia, 
and iron, but deficient in sodium and chlorine. 

The composition of the almond is given in the following tables, 
in figures of per cent: 



European 

California 

Blanched 

Water 

4.42 

6.90 

4.00 

Protein 

17.28 

24.00 

17.68 

Fat 

54.30 

54.00 

54.75 

Carbohydrates 

18.64 

10.00 

19.19 

Cellulose 

2.58 

3.00 

1.60 

Mineral matter 

2.78 

3.00 

2.70 


Almonds in the form of almond cream (almond butter diluted 
with water) make an excellent dressing for vegetables and fruit 
salads, and provide a most wholesome, delicious, and well-balanced 
combination, easily digested and assimilated. Almond milk, made 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


247 


from almond cream by adding water and a little honey, may oc¬ 
casionally be given to infants and invalids. 

To improve their appearance and increase their commercial 
value, almonds are frequently sulphured. They are spread out 
on wooden trays and put into air tight compartments, which are 
connected by pipes with a boiler. Steam is first turned on for a 
period of twenty minutes. This opens the pores of the shells, 
making them more susceptible to the bleaching effect of the sulphur. 
Then about one pound of sulphur is placed below each set of trays 
and ignited. For another twenty minutes the almonds are treated 
by sulphur fumes which combine with the moisture of the almonds 
into sulphurous acid. As in the case of sulphured fruits, this 
process is mainly employed to please the eye of the American 
public, at the cost of the hygienic value of the product. 

THE BEECHNUT 

The beechnut (fagus ferruginea) belongs to the oak family. 
The genus comprises about fifteen species of handsome deciduous 
and evergreen trees, or shrubs, very widely distributed throughout 
the temperate and colder regions of the Northern and Southern 
Hemispheres, but the nut has never been a commercial article in the 
United States. The beechnut is a small triangular kernel, which 
resembles the chestnut in shape. It contains about 20 per cent pro¬ 
tein, 50 per cent fat and 20 per cent carbohydrates, mostly in the 
form of starch and cellulose; and 3.7 per cent mineral matter, con¬ 
sisting of a large amount of lime, magnesia, iron, and more sodium 
and chlorine than any of the other nuts. Like the chestnuts the 
beechnuts are rendered more digestible if slightly roasted or boiled. 

THE CASTANOPSIS 

The Castanopsis (castanea sempervirens), also called golden 
chinkapin and California Chestnut, is a genus of evergreen trees, 
intermediate between the oak and the chestnut. This handsome 
broad-leaved tree is indigenous to the elevated regions, from Mon¬ 
terey, California, northward to the Columbia River in Oregon. It 
is also common in the Sierra Nevadas at elevations of six thousand 
feet, but in its southern limits rarely below ten thousand feet 
elevation. In the warmer and drier regions of California it is a 


248 


RATIONAL DIET 


mere shrub two to six feet high, and these dwarf forms have, in 
some instances, been described as varieties. 

The small, conical nut is slightly triangular, with a rather firm, 
brittle shell, not fibrous as with the acorn and chestnut. The burrs 
are usually produced singly but sometimes there are several on 
a twig, and when mature, instead of opening by valves, as in the 
true chestnut, they break up irregularly. The kernels are sweet 
and of excellent flavor, and are sought after by birds and squirrels. 
The castanopsis remains during winter in a partly developed stage, 
usually ripening the second year in midsummer. 

THE CHESTNUT 

The European chestnut (castanea sativa) is supposed to be in¬ 
digenous to Asia Minor, Caucasus and northern Africa, and from 
these countries it was introduced and became naturalized through¬ 
out the greater portion of temperate Europe, where it has been 
cultivated from time immemorial. The Romans are supposed to 
have distributed it northward through France and Great Britain, 
and in the latter country there were trees centuries ago of so 
large size that many of the English authors claimed they were 
indigenous. All the early Roman writers who deal with rural 
affairs, mention the chestnut as one of their valuable trees. 

At present the cultivation of the chestnut consists largely in 
grafting good varieties upon trees that produce inferior fruit, 
for which purpose the single kernel variety is preferred to the 
wild species, which contains two or three kernels. The chestnut 
is not yet produced in large quantities, and a certain amount is an¬ 
nually imported from Italy and Spain. There are but few chest¬ 
nuts grown in California. 

In the south of France and in Corsica a large portion of the 
population during the winter live chiefly on chestnuts and foods 
made from chestnut flour, and show remarkable health and vigor. 
There is probably no other country where chestnut trees are more 
plentiful than on the island of Corsica. The amount of wealth 
represented by these trees in that comparatively poor island is 
shown by the fact that a few years ago chestnuts aggregating in 
value one million dollars were exported from there. 

The chestnut is also an important crop in Italy, where the yield 
in 1916 was 696,244 tons, and forms one of the chief food stuffs 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


249 


of the working class. Chestnuts also figure largely in the food 
resources of the farming population of Spain, Switzerland and 
Germany. They are eaten raw or roasted, or ground into flour. 
The Corsican mountaineer eats his chestnuts fresh, boiled, roasted, 
made into mush, baked on the griddle, or in a loaf. They take the 
place, to a large extent, of cereals. 

The tree is prolific; it is claimed that the average annual yield 
of good mature chestnut orchard land is from two to three thou¬ 
sand pounds per acre. 

Aside from its desirability as an orchard tree, the chestnut 
may be commended as suitable for hillsides, or as a shade tree for 
highways, and should be more widely planted in the western por¬ 
tion of the United States where the climatic conditions are favor¬ 
able. Trees that were planted in the Sierra Nevada foot hills 
about twenty years ago and are now fifteen inches in diameter at 
the base of the trunk and forty feet high, are reported to bear a 
barrel of nuts per tree regularly. 

An analysis of the dried chestnut shows on an average: 


Water 

6.0 per 

cent 

Fat 

N* 

o 

00 

e i 

Protein 

10.0 “ 

c t 

Water ? *+ e \ 

70.0 “ 

t < 

Cellulose 

3.0 “ 

C l 

Mineral matter 

2.4 “ 

(( 


This proves that chestnuts surpass the best of cereals in nutri¬ 
tive value, also in the yield per acre. Moreover, the trees can be 
grown on the hillsides, where the cultivation of cereals would be 
unprofitable. 

The chestnut differs widely from the other common nuts, as it 
contains much less oil and protein, and much more of the carbo¬ 
hydrates, especially starch, which is almost entirely wanting in 
many nuts. The mineral matter of the chestnut consists largely 
of phosphate of potash, magnesia, with an appreciable amount of 
sodium and iron. 

Mention has already been made of chestnut flour which is for 
sale in many of the Italian grocery stores of the United States, 
and is largely used for culinary purposes. In some parts of Italy 
it is used extensively for making bread and cake. 

The whole nuts are eaten in a variety of ways, boiled in water 


250 


RATIONAL DIET 


without hulling; hulled and boiled, or roasted. The first method 
is undoubtedly the best, as it preserves the organic salts. Some¬ 
times dough made from chestnut flour and water is spread between 
chestnut leaves and baked in an oven or between hot stones. 

Extensive experiments have been made in regard to the digest¬ 
ibility of cooked chestnuts, showing a high digestion coefficient; 
but the raw chestnut starch, which is found to be comparatively 
indigestible, suggests the desirability of boiling or roasting the nut 
in its hull, thus rendering it more palatable. Boiled chestnuts with 
green leaf vegetables constitute a nourishing and satisfying meal, 
and, in many ways, take the place of cereals. 

Several other species of the chestnut may be briefly men¬ 
tioned here: 

The American Chestnut (castanea dentata) is a very large 
and common tree in the middle and northern states, living to a 
great age. The leaves are oblong, lanceolate, with rather coarse 
teeth, each terminating with a feeble prickle or spine, smooth on 
both sides. The burrs are thickly covered with sharp, branching 
spines a half inch long or less, opening by four valves or divi¬ 
sions when mature. There are usually three nuts in each burr, con¬ 
taining sweet and fine grained kernels. 

The Chinkapin Chestnut (castanea pumila) is a medium-sized 
tree twenty to forty feet high, growing in rich soils in New Jersey, 
Southern Pennsylvania and southward to Georgia and sparingly 
westward to Arkansas. The leaves are similar in shape to those of 
the American chestnut but they are green above and covered 
with a fine hair beneath. The burrs which are generally two-valved, 
grow in clusters. The nuts are solitary, ovid, pointed, with a dark 
brown, polished shell. The kernels are fine grained, sweet and of 
excellent flavor. The chinkapin is resistant to blight, and some of 
the hybrids retain this resistant quality while bearing nuts of good 
size and high quality. 

The Japanese Chestnut (castanea japonica) is a tree of mod¬ 
erate height, rarely exceeding fifty feet in Japan. The growth is 
slender in comparison to the European or American chestnut, and 
the habit is decidedly bushy, the new growth of the season usually 
producing a number of lateral twigs late in summer. The nuts are 
large, usually three in a burr. The shell is thin, and of a light 
brown color. The inner skin is thin, fibrous, but not as bitter as in 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 251 

European varieties, while the kernel is somewhat finer grained 
and sweeter. 

The Water Chestnut, or horn chestnut (trapa bispinosa) may 
also be mentioned here. The tubers, or corms, of this plant are 
widely used in China and Japan, and they are also for sale at Chi¬ 
nese shops in the United States. They usually grow wild in moist 
places and are not cultivated. They are sweet and juicy when 
fresh, and resemble the chestnut in size and flavor, having a brown 
skin and white interior. The carbohydrates are made up of equal 
parts of starch and sugar, which give them a sweet taste and 
make them valuable as a raw food. The composition of the fresh 
water chestnut is as follows: 


Water 

77.30 

per 

cent 

Fat 

0.15 

( t 

<« 

Protein 

1.53 

< < 

< < 

Sugar 

8.40 

< < 

(< 

Starch 

7.34 

< < 

< < 

Fibre 

0.94 

< i 

( t 

Mineral matter 

1.20 

c < 

t < 


The Water Chinquapin (nelumbium luteum), frequently 
called “ water chestnut, ’ ’ is the seed of the large yellow water 
lily, a very common plant in small ponds in the southern and east¬ 
ern part of the United States. The seeds are about the size and 
shape of small acorns and are produced in a large top-shaped, fleshy 
receptacle. They are edible, and are supposed to have been ex¬ 
tensively used as food by the Indians. Another variety is the 
nelumbo nucifera with rose colored flowers, the Egyptian bean 
of Pythagoras, or the lotus held sacred by the Hindus. It has 
been used as a food by the Egyptians from remote antiquity, and 
is much esteemed where it is cultivated, especially in China, for its 
edible seeds, roots, leaf-stalks and flower-stalks. The seeds re¬ 
semble large acorns in size and shape and are said to have a more 
delicate flavor than almonds. The root contains much starch and 
Chinese arrowroot is said to be obtained from it. 

THE HAZELNUT 

The hazelnut, or filbert (corylus) is found wild in most Euro¬ 
pean countries, and is cultivated in all temperate regions of the 
earth, especially in Asiatic countries, bordering on the Black Sea. 
In the United States the native hazel bushes produce a considerable 





252 


RATIONAL DIET 


quantity of hazel nuts, but a larger variety of the same species, 
known as the filbert, is imported from Spain and from the port of 
Trebizond, on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. Another 
variety, known as the cob-nut, which is broader and shorter than 
the filbert, but not so fine in quality, is grown in Kent and Sussex, 
England. 

On the Pacific Coast, the most favorable sections for the culti¬ 
vation of the filbert are the slopes of the Coast ranges, from Santa 
Cruz northward as far as the Canadian border, where sufficient 
moisture is assured without irrigation. 

The edible portion of the dried filbert has the following average 
composition: 


Water 

5.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 

15.0 

< < 

< c 

Fat 

64.0 

«< 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

13.0 

< < 

< < 

Mineral matter 

2.4 

«< 

< < 


The latter is especially rich in lime, magnesia, and iron. 

THE PISTACHIO 

The pistachio (pistacio vera) a native of Syria, has long been 
cultivated in the Mediterranean countries, whence comes the bulk 
of these nuts used in the United States. The pistachio was intro¬ 
duced into the Southern States during the middle of the last 
century, but thus far has not been grown extensively. Small 
quantities of this nut have been grown successfully in the warm 
interior valleys of California. 

The fruiting of the pistachio depends upon pollination, and 
one male tree is necessary to six or seven bearing trees. 

The kernel, which has the shape of a small almond, is greenish 
in color and has a mild, individual flavor, not altogether unlike 
that of almonds. In the United States it finds its largest use in 
the manufacture of confectionery, for which purpose it is valued 
for flavor and color. The composition of the nut is as follows: 


Water 

4.2 per 

cent 

Protein 

22.6 “ 

< < 

Fat 

54.5 “ 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

15.6 “ 

< < 

Mineral matter 

CO 

• 

I-* 

#N 

< < 


253 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 

THE HICKORY NUT 

The hickory nut (carya) is one of the finest wild nuts of the 
United States. The early white settlers of the Atlantic States 
found the nuts in common use among the Indians, who gathered 
and stored them in large quantities in the fall for food during the 
winter months. It is a deplorable fact that those settlers lacked 
appreciation for such choice gifts of nature, and in their desire to 
secure land for the cultivation of cereals, ruthlessly destroyed the 
splendid forests, without thinking of preserving trees that would 
furnish food for themselves and succeeding generations. Indeed, 
as hickories yield superior timber for various agricultural and 
other implements, as well as for fuel, they were often utilized in 
advance of the general clearing of woodlands. It is to be greatly 
deprecated that with the many millions of dollars expended by the 
U. S. government to encourage the planting, preservation and cul¬ 
tivation of forest trees, no special appropriation has been made for 
the nut bearing trees, which are really the great food producers 
of nature. 

Professor C. S. Sargent, a well known horticulturist, describes 
sixteen species of hickory nuts, and, in addition, a large number 
of varieties due to environment and others due to hybridization. 
Another species of hickory has been found in Mexico making seven¬ 
teen species for the North American Continent. Of the two bo¬ 
tanical names suggested for the hickory, *‘hickoria” and “carya” 
the latter has been finally adopted. The name ‘ ‘ Hickory ,’ 1 there¬ 
fore, is collective and generally applies to different species found in 
the different parts of the United States. In the northeast it applies 
to the shagbark (carya ovata), in Missouri it means the “shell 
bark” (carya laciniosa). Then there are a number of hickories 
which have nuts with a bitter skin, such as the bitternut (carya 
cordiformis), bitter pecan hickory (c. texana) and water hickory 
(c. aquatica). The name “pignuts” is generally applied to two 
species (c . glabra and c. ovalis). The species which has come into 
great prominence lately is the pecan (carya pecan) which will be 
described under a separate heading. 

The shagbark hickory derives its name from the peculiar shape 
of rough, shaggy bark which peels off in strips as the tree advances 
in age. The nuts of this tree were highly esteemed by the Indians. 
William Bartram, in the account of his travels through the South- 


254 


RATIONAL DIET 


era Atlantic States, from 1773 to 1778, published in Philadelphia 
in 1791, says, in referring to these nuts: 

“They are held in great estimation by the present generation 
of Indians. I have seen above a hundred bushels of these nuts be¬ 
longing to one family. They pound them to pieces, and then cast 
them into boiling water, which, after passing through fine strainers, 
preserves the most oily part of the liquid, this they call by a 
name which signifies hickory milk. It is as sweet and rich as fresh 
cream, and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially in 
hominy and corn cakes.” 

The shagbark hickory has a natural range from the Atlantic 
coast to the Mississippi River, although it is at its best north of 
Tennessee and the Carolinas. 

The shell bark hickory produces large nuts with a kernel equal 
to that of the shagbark in quality. Since the nuts have, as a rule, 
a very thick shell, the extraction of the meats offers some diffi¬ 
culties. There has been but little accomplished in the improvement 
of the shell bark or in perpetuating the superior varieties discov¬ 
ered, on account of their great variation when grown from seed, 
and the difficulty of propagating them by budding and grafting. 

The meat of the shell bark hickory is largely used by con¬ 
fectioners and a large trade is done in the kernels, an important 
feature of the nuts being their “cracking quality.” In this re¬ 
spect, the kernels are equal, if not superior, to those of the Persian 
walnut. 

One of the soft shell varieties of the shell bark hickory is 
known as Hale’s Paper Shell. It originated on the farm of Mr. 
Henry Hale, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, and the first tree is now 
over one hundred years old. It is about seventy-five feet high and 
nearly two feet in diameter. The nuts are very large, while the 
shell is very thin, in fact, much thinner than many pecans that 
come to the northern markets. The kernels are full, plump, rich, 
and delicious, with the rare feature of retaining their excellent 
quality for two or more years without becoming rancid. So far 
but few varieties of shell bark hickory have been dignified with a 
name. Probably the first to be named was Hale’s Paper Shell. 

The edible portion of the hickory contains on an average: 

Water 3.7 per cent Carbohydrates 11.4 per cent 

Protein 15.4 “ “ Mineral matter 2.1 “ “ 

Fat 67.4 “ “ 


255 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 
TEE PECAN 

The pecan (carya pecan) belongs to the species of hickory nuts 
and is a native of America, being found from Indiana to Iowa in 
the North, and from Tennessee to Texas in the South. It thrives 
best in the rich, moist soils along the river banks. It is the hardiest 
of all nut trees, being free from all ordinary tree pests and diseases 
because it is of the hickory group. The lack of surface moisture, 
the great enemy of most trees, is not a disadvantage to the pecan, 
for it has a remarkably long tap root, which goes down so deeply 
into the ground that it draws moisture from the sub-soil. Since 
the blooming is late in the spring, the buds are not injured by frost. 

There are three different classes of pecans: the ordinary wild 
pecan, the seedling pecan, and the paper shell pecan, now being 
cultivated extensively in Georgia by Elam G. Hess, Manheim, 
Pennsylvania, to whom I am indebted for some of the following 
data. 

The ordinary wild pecan is a native to America. The earliest 
French explorers found that one of the staple foods of the Indians 
was this palatable nut, which grew in the forests of the South and 
in northeastern Mexico. Pecan trees in the Gulf States have been 
found which were over five hundred and seven hundred years old, 
still yielding large crops of nuts. There are in the Southern 
States wild pecan trees of w T hich the records go back to the earliest 
civilization of this continent. 

The seedling pecan is the next step toward pecan perfection. 
Larger than the wild pecan, and thinner shelled, it equals or sur¬ 
passes it in flavor, depending upon the variety of seedling under 
consideration. Selling at an average price of 35 to 45 cents per 
pound, which is double the cost of the wild pecan, it has so much 
more meat and it is so much more accessible that it is always a better 
paying purchase and will gradually supplant the thick shelled, 
wild pecan, which is generally brightly tinted and polished to dis¬ 
guise its inferiority. 

The paper shell pecan was developed from budded trees. It has 
an air-tight shell so thin that it is easily broken in one hand by 
gentle pressure. Its kernel is large, easily removed, its flavor so 
much finer that anyone can immediately distinguish it from other 
pecans by taste alone. 

Instead of a bitter partition wall which imbeds itself in the nut 


256 


RATIONAL DIET 


when it is cracked, as in the wild pecan, the paper shell pecan has 
a thin, tissue-like membrane which is easily removed. In fact, in 
the paper shell pecan a larger portion of the total weight of the 
nut is meat than in any other nut, with the possible exception 
of the finest almond. 

The only disadvantage of the paper shell pecan is the limited 
supply, for there is but a small territory in which climatic and soil 
conditions are right. While the walnut is raised in countries 
throughout the temperate zones, the paper shell pecan seems to 
flourish best within a forty mile radius around Albany, in south¬ 
west Georgia, about one hundred miles south of Atlanta. Of the 
half million budded trees in the world, two hundred forty thousand, 
or practically half, are in this forty mile radius. The pecan in 
this belt is one of the most dependable crops in this country, and 
will doubtless produce profitable crops for centuries to come. A 
fifteen-year-old pecan orchard will yield about 2,500 pounds of 
nuts per acre, worth at least $1,000, or $50 per tree. Some growers 
report from 465 pounds to over 600 pounds of pecans from trees 
over twenty years old. 

The pecan tree is a great producer of concentrated food and 
one of the most profitable and permanent investments. 

While the protein content of the pecan is less than that of 
other nuts, it has the highest percentage of fat of all nuts. The 
composition of the edible portion is as follows: 


Water 

3.4 

per 

cent 

Protein 

12.1 

<« 

< < 

Fat 

70.7 

< < 

«< 

Starch and Sugar 

8.5 

< < 

t ( 

Cellulose 

3.7 

< ( 

t < 

Mineral matter 

1.6 

(* 

1 < 


One pound of pecans has more than three times as much 
nutritive value as the average cuts of meat. One full grown 
pecan tree can easily keep an adult man constantly supplied with 
more protein and fat than he needs. 

At present Texas is the leading pecan producing state, with 
over one million trees, mostly wild pecans. Georgia with 450,000 
trees comes next, followed by Oklahoma with over 400,000 trees. 
The total amount of pecan trees in all the Southern States is over 

2,500,000 trees, producing more than thirty million pounds annu¬ 
ally. 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 257 

TEE PINE NUT 

The name “pine” (pinus) is applied to many different species 
of pine trees, growing in both hemispheres. In southern Europe, 
especially in Italy and southern France, the seeds of the stone-pine 
(pinus pinea) have been extensively used as food from the earliest 
times. Many ancient writers refer to them as among the most 
valuable products of the country. The pine nuts are called 
pinocchi in Italy and Sicily, from which they are exported shelled, 
in considerable quantities into the United States under the name of 
pignolias. These nuts have a very soft texture and agreeable 
flavor, but have a slight taste of turpentine, which can be removed 
by heating the nuts for a short time, without roasting them. 

In this country we have several species, bearing large, edible 
seeds, known under the general name of pinons or pines. They 
grow especially in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, 
and Mexico, and are usually gathered by the Indians for commercial 
purposes. They are sold in a large number of fruit stores on 
the Pacific Coast. The pine-nut has a rich, marrowy kernel in a 
shell that varies in thickness from that of a chestnut to that of a 
hard shell hazel nut. 

The imported pignolias have the highest percentage of protein 

of any natural food, and while the protein content of the native 

pine-nut is lower, its fat content is higher than that of the im- 
r 

ported nuts. 

The following table gives the chemical composition of the 
pignolias, pinons and sabin pine-nuts: 

Analysis op the Edible Portion in Per Cent : 


Pignolias Pinons Sabin 

(Imported) Pine Nuts 


Water 

6.4 

per 

cent 

3.4 

per 

cent 

5.1 

per 

cent 

Protein 

33.9 

< < 

< < 

14.6 

<« 

< < 

28.1 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

49.4 

< < 

< < 

61.9 

(< 

c < 

53.7 

< i 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

6.9 

< < 

< < 

17.3 

< < 

< < 

8.4 

i i 

<< 

Mineral Matter 

3.4 

< < 


2.8 

< ( 

< i 

4.7 

(i 

< < 


The pine nuts contain a larger amount of lime than any of the 
other nuts. They also contain an appreciable quantity of magnesia 
and iron. 

The Sabin pine (pinus sabina), a European species, seems 


258 


RATIONAL DIET 


quite at home in the northeastern part of the United States, and 
so does the Swiss pine (pinus cembra). The Italian stone pine 
(pinus pinea) favors a little warmer climate, especially hillsides 
with southern exposure, and also needs some degree of wind break 
protection. There are about thirty different species of conifers of 
the nut-bearing group which are to be tried out more extensively 
between the Canadian border and Florida. Nut bearing conifers, 
for the most part, belong to the warmer parts of the temperate 
zones. They grow slowly when transplanted north of 40 degrees 
latitude. The country west of the Rocky Mountains, with its mild¬ 
er climate, seems to be especially adapted for their growth. The 
sugar pine (pinus Lambertiana), for example, one of the most 
magnificent forest trees of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has rich 
sugary and oily nuts, furnishing also a solid sugar from its evapo¬ 
rated sap. The common pinon (pinus edulis) is the one principal 
forest tree in Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. 

THE WALNUT 

The walnut comprises about eight species, and three or four of 
these are indigenous to the United States. The Latin name juglans, 
first used by Pliny, is an abbreviation of Jovis glans, the nut of 
Jove or Jupiter. 

The best known species is the Persian walnut (juglans regia), 
commonly called English walnut, although it was brought here 
from Spain and France by missionaries, and most of the European 
imports come from France and Italy. The different varieties of 
this nut are now believed to have descended from trees native to 
the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and northern Persia. It 
was introduced into the Mediterranean countries early in the Chris¬ 
tian era, and later into northern France, southern Germany and 
England. 

The wild form of this famous nut is doubtless quite different 
from the varieties with which we are familiar. Two thousand 
years of continuous cultivation and selection have greatly changed 
the character of these nuts, as well as their habits. The nuts from 
the wild trees are said to have a rather thick shell, and to be much 
smaller than the improved cultivated varieties. While some old 
productive English walnut trees are found throughout the East¬ 
ern and Middle States, this variety seems to have succeeded better 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


259 


in California, especially in Southern California and the coast 
countries, where large commercial orchards have now been planted. 
Oregon is following California rapidly as a nut growing state. 

The California black walnut (juglans Californica) is now chief¬ 
ly used as a resistant stock for the English walnut, and either 
grafting or budding is resorted to. The best known varieties of 
English walnut are the Santa Barbara, Soft Shell, Placentia, Per¬ 
fection, (sold as budded walnuts), Eureka and the Franquette, 
the last a very large elongated oval nut with rather thick shell, 
but containing meat of high quality. 

Unfortunately, the general market in the United States seems 
to call for bleached walnuts, which are more attractive to the eye. 
Sulphuring, however, depreciates the aroma of the nut and leaves 
the kernel with a lowered quality. Most of the California growers 
are using now harmless cleansing materials and for that reason 
will hold the discriminating trade. It is certain that English 
walnuts of highest quality sent to the Eastern market unbleached, 
will eventually command a higher price than sulphured nuts. 

Walnut orchards in full bearing should produce from 1,000 
to 1,200 pounds of nuts per acre, while extraordinary yields are 
as high as 2,000 pounds. The California Walnut Growers’ Associ¬ 
ation announced for 1922 a walnut crop estimated at 48 million 
pounds, valued at $15,000,000. In addition, 50 million pounds 
were imported into the United States during the nine months pre¬ 
ceding this report. 

The black walnut (juglans nigra) grows wild over a large por¬ 
tion of the American continent, especially along the Ohio and 
Mississippi Valley. The nut has a thick, hard shell, but contains a 
well-flavored meat. 

The butternut (juglans cinerea), sometimes called “white wal¬ 
nut,” which grows abundantly in the United States and Canada, 
also belongs to the walnut family. The fruit is oblong, two or more 
inches in length, with a clammy husk, not opening when ripe, but 
closely adhering to the deeply corrugated thick shell. It is also 
a valuable timber tree, with soft white wood, much used for furni¬ 
ture. 


260 


RATIONAL DIET 


The chemical analysis of the edible portion of the three follow¬ 
ing varieties is: 

English Walnut Black Walnut Butternut 


Water 

2.5 

per 

cent 

2.5 

per 

cent 

4.5 

per 

cent 

Protein 

18.4 

< < 

< < 

27.6 

< < 

< < 

27.9 

c < 

<« 

Fat 

64.4 

< < 

i ( 

56.3 

< < 

< < 

61.2 

< < 

< < 

Carbohydrate 

13.0 

< < 

(t 

11.7 

<« 

< < 

3.4 

«t 

< < 

Cellulose 

1.4 

< t 

11 

1.7 

< < 

< < 




Mineral matter 

1.7 

i < 

< < 

1.9 

C ( 

«< 

3.0 

< < 

<« 


The English walnut is rich in lime, magnesia and iron salts, 
but like all nuts, is deficient in sodium and chlorine. The walnut 
is more difficult to blanch than the almond, hence not so well adapt¬ 
ed for making nut butter. Finely grated and sprinkled over 
vegetables and fruit salads, it makes an ideal combination, taking 
the place of salad oil. 

The Chinese walnut (juglans sinensis) is also a common variety 
of the Persian walnut. It is very hardy and in China grows in 
much colder regions than those in which Persian walnuts of Euro¬ 
pean origin will thrive. Nuts of the Chinese tree have a rather 
thick shell and the kernel is rich, but not well flavored. This, vari¬ 
ety would be best for the North Atlantic States where the climate 
conditions are similar to those of the northeastern Orient. Chi¬ 
nese walnuts have been imported in fairly large quantities by the 
Pacific Coast States. 

The Japanese walnut (juglans cordiformis) comes from the 
Island of Pezo, the most northern portion of the Japanese Empire. 
This nut should grow successfully throughout the United States, 
as it has withstood a cold of several degrees below zero at Parry, 
N. J., without the slightest injury. The nut is of peculiar heart- 
shape, hence its botanical name. The kernel is full and plump, 
equalling in flavor the Persian walnut, while its cracking quali¬ 
ties are superior to any other known varieties, for by boiling the 
nuts for five minutes and cracking them by a slight tap while still 
hot, the thin shells readily part and the kernels can be extracted 
whole. 

When the tree is in blossom with catkins of male flowers five 
or six inches in length and bright red spikes of female flowers 
glowing amidst the foliage we have a very attractive object, worthy 
of attention for beauty alone. The Japanese walnut, even as a 
seedling tree, may begin to bear when only five or six years of age. 


261 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 
THE PEANUT 

Although in a strictly botanical sense the peanut (arachis hy- 
pogoea) is not a nut, but a legume, it is here included among the; 
nuts, whose chemical composition it closely resembles. Since the 
close of the Civil War the peanut has come gradually into promi¬ 
nence in the United States until over two million acres are now 
devoted to its cultivation, yielding an average of thirty to forty 
bushels per acre. 

The peanut, probably a native of Brazil, was introduced soon 
after the discovery of that country into Africa and other tropical 
portions of the Eastern Hemisphere, where it has become a staple 
food. In the United States the climate of the Atlantic seaboard 
and the Mississippi Valley has proved most congenial to this plant, 
which needs an early and warm spring, followed by a hot and moist 
summer, with but little rain in the harvesting season, for rain 
injures the mature crop. 

The peanut, often called 4 ‘earth nut” or “ground nut,” derives 
these names from the peculiarity of the development of its pods. 
Its blossom is at the end of a long pedicel-like calyx tube, the ovary 
being at the base. After the fall of the flower the peduncle, or 
“spike” elongates and bends downward, pushing several inches 
into the ground, where the ovary at its extremity begins to en¬ 
large, and develops into slightly curved pods, containing from one 
to three seeds. 

In some of the Southern States, the annual yield of the pea¬ 
nut plant has been greatly reduced, chiefly owing to the contin¬ 
ued annual planting of nuts on the same land, lack of proper ro¬ 
tation of crops, the removal of nearly all vegetation from the land, 
and failure to replenish the soil by means of proper fertilizers. 

Like other leguminous plants the peanut is rich in nitrogen and 
contains considerable amounts of phosphoric acid and potash. 
The mineral matter in the dried vines amounts to over 15 per 
cent. These vines should be plowed under, and mineral fertilizers 
applied. 

The principal varieties of peanuts grown in this country are 
the Virginia and the Spanish peanut. In Costa Rica there is a 
variety with long undivided pods, containing four or five seeds, 
while in the Argentine Republic a large size variety with a deep 


262 


RATIONAL DIET 


orange colored shell is grown. Considerable quantities of peanuts 
are raised in India and West Africa, principally for the oil that 
is contained in the kernels. 

The chemical analysis of the various kinds of peanuts grown 
in different districts naturally shows a wide divergence, especially 
in the amounts of protein and fat, the former ranging from 
25 to 35 per cent, the latter from 41 to 55 per cent. The aver¬ 
age composition of the peanut, as a result of over two thousand 
analyses is as follows: 

Water 7.8 per cent Starch and 

Protein 29.4 “ “ Cellulose 11.0 per cent 

Fat 49.0 “ “ Mineral matter 2.8 “ 

Like all seeds, the mineral matter consists chiefly of phosphoric 
acid, and, according to Koenig’s analyses, the peanut has the 
largest amount of iron of all the nuts analyzed, while it is de¬ 
ficient in sodium and chlorine. It should, therefore, be eaten with 
discrimination, as it is a highly acid-forming food. 

While in Europe the peanut is mostly used in the production 
of edible oil, in the United States it is consumed in various ways, 
roasted and salted, in peanut candies, peanut butter, and to a less¬ 
er extent, the seed is used for its oil. About 26,000,000 pounds of 
peanut oil were produced in 1916. The U. S. Department of 
Agriculture has recently recommended the use of peanut meal, 
mixed with corn meal and wheat flour, for biscuits, muffins, cakes, 
puddings and soups. The ordinary peanut butter, made from 
heavily roasted peanuts and salted, is not wholesome. An ex¬ 
cellent butter can be made from blanched nuts, but slightly heated 
to remove the earthy flavor and surplus of moisture. If diluted 
and mixed with water to the consistency of cream, the butter 
makes an excellent salad dressing. 

During the past ten years peanut oil has come into competi¬ 
tion with cotton-seed oil, but there are some fundamental differ¬ 
ences between these two oils. The proportion of hull to meat is 
less in the peanut than in cotton-seed, and as the shell of the pea¬ 
nut is more absorbent than cotton-seed hulls, the loss of oil in press¬ 
ing unshelled peanuts is greater than with cotton seed. On the 
other hand, shelling can be accomplished much more readily with 
the peanut than with cotton-seed. The really important difference 
between these two seeds, however, is in the oil itself. Cotton-seed 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


263 


oil belongs to that class of vegetable glycerids which have to be 
refined before they are edible, whereas peanut oil, if properly 
pressed from sound stock, has a good color, a sweet, nutty flavor, 
and is a thoroughly satisfactory table oil just as it runs from the 
press. Naturally, there is more or less insoluble matter—fine 
particles of the nut—which have to be removed in order to prevent 
a rapid deterioration of the oil, but this is easily done by filtering. 
In this respect, peanut oil is like olive oil, the best grade of which 
appears on the table just as it comes from the fruit, in fact, just 
as it existed in the olives themselves. In former years a good deal 
of the imported olive oil was adulterated with peanut oil. 

Those who have tried prime, cold pressed peanut oil, consider 
it equal to olive oil, but the flavors are quite dissimilar. Refined 
peanut oils, however, are not superior to cotton-seed or corn oils, 
from a hygenic point of view. At present the United States is 
importing about 1,500,000 gallons of peanut oil, annually. 

A bushel of good Spanish peanuts will yield from one and one 
eighth to one and one-quarter gallons of oil, and any fairly suc¬ 
cessful farmer can produce from 40 to 60 bushels per acre. Yields 
of 75 to 100 bushels are not uncommon. 

China is probably the leading peanut growing country of the 
world, with an annual production of 365,000 tons, about twice as 
large as that of the United States. 

THE CHUFA 

The Chufa, earth almond or earth chestnut (cyperus rotundus), 
is a perennial plant that spreads extensively by its under-ground 
root stocks. It bears numerous small edible tubers about the 
size of peanuts. Like the latter, the chufa belongs to the vegetable 
family but as its chemical composition also resembles that of nuts, 
it may be mentioned here. The tubers, when dehydrated or slight¬ 
ly parched have a fine flavor. Chufas grow well upon light sandy 
soils and produce large crops, but, so far, they have not been large¬ 
ly cultivated. A very delicious oil is manufactured from the 
dried chufa. 

The chemical analysis of the chufa is as follows: 

Water 2.2 per cent Carbohydrates 50.2 per cent 

Protein 3.5 “ “ Crude fiber 10.5 “ “ 

Fat 31.6 “ “ Mineral matter 2.0 “ “ 


264 


RATIONAL DIET 


Tropical Nuts 
TEE BRAZIL NET 

The Brazil nut, or guvia (Bertholletia excelsa), is grown chief¬ 
ly in Brazil and surrounding countries. It is one of the most re¬ 
markable fruits of South America, and was first made familiar 
to us principally through the descriptions of Alexander von Hum¬ 
boldt. The fruit consists of a globular formation as large as an in¬ 
fant’s head, and when ripe the seeds fall out. These seeds are 
nuts about one and one-half inches long and triangular. The meats 
are mild, yellowish white, and have a fine creamy flavor. They 
contain but little starch and sugar. The importation of these nuts 
into the United States amounts annually to about one thousand 
tons. 

The tree that produces the Brazil nut is only two or three feet 
in diameter, but reaches a height of 120 feet. It is one of the 
wonders of vegetable life in the tropics. In fifty or sixty days 
a shell is formed, half an inch in thickness, which is rather difficult 
to open. The grains which this shell contain have two distinct 
envelopes. Four or five, and sometimes as many as eight, of these 
grains are attached to a central membrane. The weight of the 
entire fruit is so heavy that at the period when it falls the savages 
dare not enter the forests without covering head and shoulders 
with a strong protection made from wood. The gathering of the 
nuts is always an occasion of great celebration among the natives, 
so highly do they appreciate their value. They are very rich in 
lime and magnesia. The Brazil nut contains: 


Water 

4.7 

per 

cent 

Protein 

17.4 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

65.0 

i ( 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

5.7 

11 

< < 

Cellulose 

3.9 

< < 

< < 

Mineral matter 

3.3 

< < 

< < 


THE CANDLE NUT 

The candle nut (aleurites triloba) comes from a small ever¬ 
green tree, a native of Malay, southern Japan, and nearly all the 
tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. In some instances the tree 
is mainly cultivated for the fruit, which is about two inches in 
diameter. In the center there is a hard nut, very oily, with the 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


265 


flavor of the walnut. The oil obtained from these nuts is in com¬ 
mon use among the natives of the South Sea Islands. In the Ha¬ 
waiian group the kernels are strung on a small dry stick, which 
Serves the purpose of a wick, and then one end is lighted, as with 
an ordinary tallow or wax candle, hence probably the common name 
of “candle nut.” Large quantities of oil are also made from 
the nuts and used for various purposes. 

The chemical analysis of the edible portion of the candle nut 
shows the following constituents: 


Water 

5.9 

per 

cent 

Protein 

21.4 

i < 

* < 

Fat 

61.7 

< t 

«< 

Sugar and starch 

4.9 

< i 

< ( 

Crude fiber 

2.8 

t « 

i < 

Mineral matter 

3.3 

< < 

i i 


THE CASHEW 

The cashew (anarcardium Occident ale) is a spreading, evergreen 
tropical tree, often attaining a height of forty feet. It is indige¬ 
nous to tropical South America, whence it was carried to Asia, Af¬ 
rica, and the West Indies, where it grows in abundance. In the 
United States the culture of this tree is limited to the coast of Flor¬ 
ida south of Palm Beach and Punta Gorda. Experiments to in¬ 
troduce the tree into California have not been successful. 

The fruit is peculiar. The part that appears to be the fruit 
is in reality the swollen peduncle and disk, while the fruit proper 
is the kidney-shaped cashew nut, attached to its lower end. The 
fleshy part differs in size, being from two to three and one-half 
inches in length. The surface is commonly brittle and yellow, or 
flame-scarlet in color. The skin is very delicate, easily broken; 
the flesh, light yellow in color, and very juicy. The kidney-shaped 
nut, which is attached to the lower end of the fruit, contains the 
single oblong seed. 

The cashew apple, as the fruit may be called, is soft, juicy, acid, 
and having before maturity a high degree of astringency, of which 
a sufficient quantity is retained in the ripe fruit to lend it zest. 
Owing to its remarkable penetrating, almost pungent, aroma, the 
jam or sweet meat made from the fruit possesses a characteristic 
and highly pleasing quality. 

The cashew nut is kidney-shaped, and about an inch in length. 


266 


RATIONAL DIET 


The soft, thick, cellular shell, incloses a slightly curved white 
kernel of fine texture and delicate flavor. The nuts should be 
roasted before being eaten. The shell contains cardol and anacar- 
dic acid, which burns the mouth and lips, if one attempts to 
bite into the fresh nut. Since these acids are decomposed by heat, 
the roasted nuts are more palatable. 

THE COCOANUT 

The cocoanut (cocos nucifera) is one of the most widely known 
and largest of edible nuts. It is indigenous to nearly all the tropi¬ 
cal seashores. 

There is perhaps no other food product that serves so many 
purposes as the cocoanut. An investigator has enumerated eighty- 
four distinct uses for the products derived from the cocoanut 
tree, the most important of which are identified with food stuffs. 

Natives have always grown the tree primarily for their own 
use, rather than trading purposes, and it is only during the last 
fifty years that European and American capital has taken hold of 
the cocoanut industry on a large scale. 

It is estimated that on an average a native consumes about sixty 
cocoanuts a month, these furnishing him both meat and drink 
that require neither cooking nor artificial preparation. In fact, he 
may be said to derive his entire livelihood from this remarkable 
tree, since it provides him with food, shelter, and even clothing. 
As a rule, the native figures his wealth by the number of cocoa- 
nut trees he possesses; and twenty of them in full bearing, occupy¬ 
ing a space of less than half an acre, are considered sufficient to 
keep a man comfortable throughout the year. 

Before the cocoanut shell becomes hard in the ripening process, 
the meat is found as a creamy substance, from which the milk has 
not yet separated. In this state the nut contents may be eaten with 
a spoon. If slightly sweetened with honey or fruit juice, they are 
palatable and refreshing. On the seacoast of Venezuela the people 
to a large extent live on cocoanuts and cassava, a starchy root which 
serves as a substitute for bread. In some parts of the West Indies 
the natives prepare a cocoanut butter by grating the meat and 
boiling it in water. The oil gradually rises to the surface and is 



COCO PALMS IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA 








































NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 


267 


skimmed off and allowed to stand for a few hours and then churned, 
making a quite palatable white fat, resembling cow’s butter. 
Four nuts are generally required to make one pound of this fat. 
A good size cocoanut, with the husk, weighs about 5 pounds and 
contains about l 1 /^ pounds of meat and 1 pint of milk. 

According to recent data, there are at least S 1 /^ million acres 
planted in cocoanuts in various parts of the tropics, the annual 
production aggregating about eight billion nuts. It is estimated 
that an acre of full grown cocoanut trees produces about fifty nuts 
per tree or 2400 nuts per year. On an average, three cocoanuts are 
required to make one pound of copra (dried cocoanut), or one 
pound of desiccated cocoanut. The latter is manufactured chiefly 
in the large cocoanut growing centers, like Ceylon and the Philip¬ 
pine Islands, while the copra is shipped to American and Euro¬ 
pean ports for the manufacture of fat, which is often churned 
with some peanut oil and milk into a butter and given different 
trade names. These butters, sold as oleomargarines, more or less 
heavily salted and treated with preservatives, are practically devoid 
of mineral elements and vitamins, and cannot compare in nutritive 
and hygienic value to butter made from the desiccated cocoanut, 
which, in addition to fat, contains the tissue building elements. 

Two analyses of desiccated cocoanut show an average: 


Water 

3.5 

per 

cent 

Protein 

6.3 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

57.4 

< < 

< < 

Carbohydrates, in¬ 
cluding fibre 

31.5 

< < 

c ( 

Mineral matter 

1.3 

< t 

< < 


The latter contains a considerable quantity of potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid, also small amounts of sodium, calcium, manganese and 
iron. In combination with fruits, the cocoanut in its various forms, 
if properly prepared, makes a well-balanced diet. 

THE QUEENSLAND NUT 

The Queensland nut (macadamia ternifolia) is an evergreen 
tree or tall shrub indigenous to eastern Australia. It has been 
cultivated successfully in Southern California. Aside from the 
value of its fruits, the tree is desirable for its ornamental value 
in gardens as well as on streets and avenues. For this purpose its 


268 


RATIONAL DIET 


drought-resisting qualities make it particularly useful. Its dark 
green, serrated leaves greatly resemble those of the holly. 

The nuts are abundantly produced in clusters of from three 
to fourteen, enclosed by a hull similar to that of the hickory nut. 
They are round, smooth, light brown in color and about an inch 
in diameter. The shell is thick, and encloses a round kernel, sim¬ 
ilar to the filbert, but larger. The flavor resembles that of the 
Brazil-nut, but is greatly superior to it. 

The tree comes into bearing when seven or eight years of age, 
and thrives best on a heavy soil. It requires but little care and 
for that reason is desirable for door yard planting. Trees have 
been bearing in California for a number of years, and are as per¬ 
fectly at home there as in their native country. 

TEE PI LI NUT 

The pilinut (carnarium ovatum), or Javanese almond, another 
tropical nut highly appreciated in the Orient, has recently been 
introduced into the United States from the Philippines, and by 
immigrants from Asia and the East Indies. The tree is a native 
of the East Indies. The nuts are spindle-shaped, with a triangular 
shell which is very thick and hard, and encloses a white, oily ker¬ 
nel of soft texture, almost melting in the mouth. On account of the 
heavy shell, the meat forms a small percentage of the fruit. 

TEE SAPUCAIA or PARADISE NUT 

The sapucaia, or paradise nut (lecythis zabucajo), is borne 
by a tree similar to that of the Brazil nut, though a little larger. 
It has a rough shell, about two inches long, not so curved as the 
Brazil nut. It is of fine quality and texture and has a delicate 
flavor, but has not yet become common in the United States. 

The sapucaia, like the Brazil nut, is produced in an urn-shaped, 
woody capsule, which has received the name of “monkey pot,” 
for the reason that when these capsules ripen, the lid at the top is 
suddenly liberated, emitting a sharp sound, which notifies the mon¬ 
keys that the nuts are falling and that the first on the ground 
becomes the fortunate possessor of the largest number. In New 
York City these nuts are sold under the name of ‘‘Paradise nuts,” 
and are very much appreciated for their rich, creamy flavor. 


269 


NUTS, VALUE AND VARIETIES 
THE SOUARI 

The souari, or tropical butternut (caryocar nuciferum), is a 
native of British Guiana, but is very seldom found in the markets 
of the United States. It is seen more frequently in European sea- 
ports. 

The shell of the nut is of a deep brown color, embossed, as it 
were, with smooth tubercles. They are from two to two and a half 
inches, or more, in their broadest diameter. The kernel, or meat, 
is pure white, soft, rich and oily, with a pleasant flavor. 

There are many more varieties of delicious nuts growing in the 
immense tropical forests covering the valleys of the Amazon and 
Orinoco Rivers, and their tributaries. The nuts imported so far 
come only from points near the seashore, as there are no transpor¬ 
tation facilities established from interior points. The production 
of nuts in this vast territory, as large as the entire Mississippi 
Valley, must be enormous. Future generations undoubtedly will 
find there an inexhaustible supply of nature’s most concentrated 
food products, far surpassing all animal food products in nutri¬ 
tive and hygienic value. 


CHAPTER IV 


VEGETABLES 

Vegetables, especially the green leaf varieties, also play an im¬ 
portant part in the nutrition of man, because they furnish the 
necessary vitamins and alkaline elements. In all instances where 
the diet consists largely of cereal foods, or flesh meat, a liberal 
supply of green vegetables and succulent plants is absolutely 
necessary to prevent acidity of the blood. In places where fruits 
cannot be grown successfully and in sufficient quantities, vegetables 
are indispensable to a properly balanced diet. 

It is interesting to note the polaric distribution of the mineral 
elements during the various stages of plant growth, and the won¬ 
derful synthetic processes which characterize the vegetable king¬ 
dom as the laboratory of nature. 

The roots, which are rich in carbohydrates, contain a well pro¬ 
portioned amount of all the mineral elements necessary to growth, 
although we often find that phosphate potash, sodium chloride, 
magnesia and silica predominate. An analysis of the stems of 
leaves shows a considerable amount of lime and iron, which give 
them stability and color. Iron plays an important part in vege¬ 
table life, as chlorophyl granules cannot be formed without its 
presence. If plants are allowed to grow in solutions free from 
iron, the leaves are colorless, but become green as soon as iron is 
added to the fluid in which the roots are immersed. The importance 
of iron in the human body has been referred to in a preceding 
chapter. 

The seeds of plants contain a large amount of phosphoric acid, 
potash and magnesia. These elements stimulate the growth of 
young plants until their roots and leaves are sufficiently developed 
to extract nourishment direct from the soil and air. 

The leaves and tender stems of vegetables, containing the larg¬ 
est percentage of alkaline bases, are absolutely essential, not mere¬ 
ly as garnishes, but as a substantial feature of our dietary, es¬ 
pecially if the latter consists of more or less demineralized cere¬ 
als, meat, fish, eggs and artificial sweets. 


270 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


271 


That the great dietetic and hygienic value of vegetables is not 
yet fully appreciated by the American people is shown by the fact 
that of the total expenditure for food, only seven per cent goes 
to the purchase of vegetables of all kinds. Furthermore, a large 
part of their nutritive value is lost by irrational preparation. 

Although it may almost appear like an insult to the intelligence 
of people to suggest that the organic salts should be retained, yet 
in this so-called advanced age it is amazing to see how compara¬ 
tively few give proper attention to this matter. The average 
housewife generally cooks her vegetables with too much water, and 
then drains them, not realizing that the organic salts are dissolved 
in the w^ater, thereby leaving little nutrition and mostly bulk. In 
addition to this, in order to satisfy the craving excited by the loss 
of the organic salts, table salt and spices are used. 

The best way to insure a liberal supply of alkaline bases and 
vitamins is to eat a large dish of salad every day, consisting of 
lettuce, cress, cabbage, cucumbers, grated carrots, celery, sliced 
tomatoes, or whatever suitable vegetables are available. Lemon 
juice, instead of vinegar, should be used as a condiment. 

As has been pointed out in Chapter XV, the hygienic value 
of the vegetables depends on the kind of fertilizers that have been 
applied, on various chemical compositions of the soil, and the con¬ 
sequent effect upon the growth of the plant. Heretofore to di¬ 
etitians a vegetable has been merely a vegetable, regardless of the 
character of the soil that nurtured it. Only virgin soil, or its equiv¬ 
alent, can produce food rich in the necessary mineral elements, 
while manures and other animal fertilizers deteriorate rather than 
renovate the soil. Such fertilizers, carrying a large amount of ni¬ 
trogen in the form of ammonia, produce plants composed chiefly 
of ammoniacal albumen, lacking in alkaline bases. And human 
tissue built from such plants, or their fruits, is abnormally con¬ 
stituted and subject to rapid decay. Nearly all the commercial 
fertilizers contain a surplus of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid which induce a rank and rapid growth of vegetation, at the 
cost of quality of the product. Unfortunately, it is almost im¬ 
possible for the average city dweller to know the source of his 
vegetable supply, hence a tentative solution of this important 
problem is the family garden. 

In order to better distinguish the characteristics and chemical 


272 


RATIONAL DIET 


composition of the vegetables generally grown for human con¬ 
sumption, they may be divided into four classes: 


Class A, Fruit bearing vegetables, chiefly grown for their 
fruits, while their stems and leaves are used as fertilizers. They 
include the following varieties: 


Chayote 

Peppers 

Cucumbers 

Pumpkins 

Eggplant 

Squashes 

Melons 

Tomatoes 

Okra or Gumbo 

Vegetable marrow 

B, Green Vegetables: 

Artichokes 

Kale 

Beet leaves 

Kohlrabi 

Broccoli 

Lettuce 

Brussels sprouts 

Mustard 

Cabbage 

Parsley 

Cauliflower 

Rhubarb 

Celery 

Sorrel 

Chard 

Spinach 

Dandelion 

Endive 

Watercress 

C, Roots, Tubers and Bulbs 

Succulent Roots and Bulbs: 

Beets 

Rutabagas 

Carrots 

Turnips (white) 

Celery root 

Kohlrabi 

Chives 

Leek 

Parsnips 

Onions 

Salsify (oyster plant) 

Garlic 

Black salsify 

Asparagus 

Radishes 

Horseradish 

Starchy Roots and 

Tubers: 

Potato 

Dasheen 

Sweet potato 

Taro 

Jerusalem artichoke 

Yam 

Arrowroot 

Cassava 

Yautia 


Class D, Mushrooms, fungi, lichens, algae. 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 273 

THE CHAYOTE 

The chayote (sechium edule) a vigorous, climbing, perennial 
plant of the cucumber family, is native to Mexico and Central 
America, but is now cultivated as a garden vegetable in warm re¬ 
gions in many other parts of the world. The fruit has a mild, 
but agreeable flavor, and, in the best varieties, an excellent fibre- 
free texture. It has a single, large, flat seed, which is without a 
hard seed coat, and, unless desired for use as a table delicacy, 
the seed is not removed, but is cooked or baked with the rest 
of the vegetable. Chemical analysis shows the fruit to contain 
from 5 to 8 per cent carbohydrates, and from 1 to 2 per cent of 
protein. The fruits may be eaten when immature, but the quality 
improves as they approach maturity, indicated by firmness of the 
flesh, as it hardens during the ripening process. 

The chayote can be grown much further north as an annual 
than as a perennial, since even the roots are easily killed by freez¬ 
ing. It has been grown and fruited as far north as the State of 
Washington, and as many as fifty fruits have been produced on a 
single vine when the first frosts did not appear until late in No¬ 
vember. 

THE CUCUMBER 

The cucumber (cucumis sativus) appears to be indigenous to 
southern India, but has been cultivated from the earliest historic 
times in Syria and Egypt. While the food value of the cucumber 
is low, containing as it does 95 per cent water, it is nevertheless 
very refreshing and rich in organic salts, especially potash, lime, 
magnesia, and iron. To get the benefit of these valuable alkaline 
elements, it should be eaten frequently, like a melon, without the 
addition of table salt. Recently a number of very delicious vari¬ 
eties of the cucumber have been developed. 

The gherkin is a small size variety of cucumber, used principally 
for pickling, a process which, of course, destroys its hygienic value. 

THE EGG PLANT 

The egg plant (solanum melongena) is a native of the East 
Indies, but is now a common fruit in the West Indies, southern 
Europe, and throughout the United States. The fruit is egg- 


274 


RATIONAL DIET 


shaped, deep purple, and often reaches the size of a cocoanut. It 
grows like a melon on a vine, and is usually prepared for eating 
by cutting it in slices which are broiled or fried. Its composition is: 


Water 

93.00 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.13 

i < 

< < 

Fat 

0.30 

< i 

<« 

Fiber 

0.70 

i ( 

<« 

Carbohydrates 

4.27 

< i 

i < 

Mineral matter 

0.60 

< < 

i i 


MELONS 

Melons (cucumis melo) were originally found wild both in In¬ 
dia and Africa. They were introduced into southern Europe 
about the beginning of the Christian era. Numerous varieties are 
now grown in North America, including the Musk Melon, Casaba, 
(or Winter Melon), and the Cantaloupe, named from Cantaloupe, 
Italy. 

The Watermelon (cucumis citrullus) is a native of tropical 
Africa, and was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians. From 
the valley of the Nile its cultivation spread over all the continents. 
It still constitutes a large portion of the food of the natives of 
Egypt during the hot months of the year. 

The watermelon is one of the largest of our fruits, often weigh¬ 
ing from thirty to forty pounds. Melons of 90 to 100 pounds have 
been reported from regions that make a specialty of this fruit. 

The fruit has a hard, green rind, enclosing a rich, delicious 
rose-colored pulp, of sweetish taste, for which it is highly prized. 
The vines, which make good fertilizers, often cover the entire field 
at the time of fruiting. They grow best on a sandy, well-fertilized 
soil, in countries that have an abundance of sunshine during the 
summer months. Many varieties of watermelon are now offered 
by seed men, among which are: the Cuban Queen, the Iceberg, the 
Ice Cream, the Excel, and the Klondike. 

The Musk-Melon, (or cantaloupe), has been grown in the 
hot Eastern countries from time immemorial. It is a large, yellow, 
or yellowish-green fruit, with a highly flavored, sweet pulp, of 
delicate taste and odor. The best known varieties in the United 
States are the Rocky Ford, upon which the Colorado cantaloupe 
industry was established (also now grown extensively in Cal if or- 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 275 

nia), the Tip Top, the California Large Nutmeg and the Persian 
Melon. 

The Casaba (or winter melon), comprising several types, such 
as Honey Dew and Golden Beauty, is one of the most interesting 
and promising of melons grown in California. On irrigated land, 
in comparatively frostless places, these melons can be sowed in 
May or June and find ample autumn heat and freedom from frost 
to reach perfection. The ripe fruit remains in good condition for 
months, without cold storage. They can be conveniently stored in 
a shed, or in a cellar. Although the exterior portion of the rind 
may show signs of withering, the flesh usually remains sound. 

The average composition of the edible portions of the cantaloupe 
and watermelon is given in the following table: 


Cantaloupe Watermelon 


Water 

89.50 per 

cent 

92.40 per cent 

Protein 

0.60 “ 

11 

0.40 “ “ 

Fat 



0.20 “ “ 

Carbohydrate (sugar) 

7.20 “ 

i ( 

6.70 “ “ 

Fiber 

2.10 “ 

< < 


Mineral matter 

0.60 “ 

11 

0.30 “ “ 

The alkaline elements predominate, 

potash, 

lime and iron 


stituting a large percentage. Melons, containing about 90 per 
cent water, furnish food and drink combined. They are much 
more refreshing and wholesome than the artificial soft drinks 
now offered for sale everywhere. Melons supply the purest kind 
of water sweetened with natural fruit sugar, and enriched by 
the valuable organic salts and vitamins. Use more melons instead 
of soft drinks to keep cool in hot weather. 

OKRA, or GUMBO 

Like the melon, okra (allium cepa) was first cultivated by the 
ancient Egyptians, and for many years has been in constant use 
in the Mediterranean countries. Gumbo is its Spanish name. The 
parts used are the pyramidal seed pods which are gathered while 
green. They contain a large proportion of a mucilaginous sub¬ 
stance, which forms a jelly when boiled in water. 

Okra is mostly used for vegetable soup, but it may be eaten 
raw by those who prefer uncooked food. It is grown from the 


276 


RATIONAL DIET 


seed, planted in rows, or hills, like corn. In appearance it re¬ 
sembles the cotton plant. Its composition is as follows: 


Water 

90.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.6 

i < 

11 

Fat 

0.2 

«< 

i < 

Carbohydrates 

7.4 

( < 

< i 

Fiber 

3.4 

t < 

< i 

Mineral matter 

0.6 

< < 

< < 


The mineral matter shows a large portion of soda and lime. 

PEPPERS OR CAPSICUMS 

Peppers are the fruits of several species of capsicum, belonging 
to the class of nightshades. The best known varieties are the 
Bell Peppers, a West Indian species, bearing a large green capsule; 
and the Chillies, having small pods % to % of an inch wide and 
from three to five inches long, of deep orange-red color. The name 
“chillie” is of Mexican origin. Although peppers are natives of 
the tropics, they are grown extensively in the warmer climates of 
the United States, and are chiefly used in combination with other 
vegetables, or as a pickling spice. Green peppers promote the 
secretion of gastric and pancreatic juices, and when used moderate¬ 
ly, prevent flatulence. 

The active principle in peppers is a volatile alkaloid, called 
“ capsicine. ’ ’ In hot climates peppers are extensively used as a 
stimulation to the appetite. 

The Perfection Pimiento is the popular variety now grown in 
Orange County, Southern California, and Georgia. It is about 
four or five inches long and about three inches in diameter 
through the cove end. It is grown from seed sowed directly in the 
fields during the latter part of March. Later the plants are thinned 
out twenty inches apart in rows, the latter being spaced three feet 
apart. The seed of the pimiento was introduced from Spain. The 
pimiento is harvested in October and November, a part of the 
crop being canned and part dried. It bears prolifically, yielding 
from five to eight tons per acre. 

On account of their alkaloid contents, peppers should be used 
very sparingly and only in their fresh state. Canned and pickled 
foods, prepared with peppers, should be strictly avoided. 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 277 

THE PUMPKIN, SQUASH, AND VEGETABLE MARROW 

Pumpkins, squashes and vegetable marrow belong to the nat¬ 
ural order of cucurbita, or gourds. There are over fifty varieties 
grown, all of similar chemical composition. 

Pumpkins often grow to a large size and are chiefly used for 
feeding stock. A considerable quantity is canned or evaporated. 
Pumpkin flour, used extensively in making pies, is manufactured 
from the evaporated pumpkin, which is ground into a powder. 
Pumpkins are preferable when baked. 

The word ‘ ‘ squash ’ ’ is adapted from an American-Indian word, 
and, in an indefinite way, is generally applied to various mem¬ 
bers of the cucurbita family. The so-called “summer squashes” 
include the following varieties: Summer Crookneck, Patty Pan, 
Grant Summer, Bush Ford Hook, Mammoth White Bush, Early 
Yellow Bush, Early Golden Bush, Summer Bergen, Pineapple, Tur- 
ben, etc. 

The principal varieties of winter squash are the Gregory De¬ 
licious, the sweetest and finest flavored squash in cultivation; the 
Hubbard, a curiously shaped sort with dark green skin and rich 
orange-yellow flesh; the Warted Hubbard, the Boston Marrow, 
popular throughout the New England states, and the Winter, or 
Canada Crookneck squash. 

Vegetable Marrow (cucurbita ovifera), resembling the cu¬ 
cumber in shape, is more commonly grown as a garden vegetable 
in England than in the United States. One variety grown here, 
known as the Crown Gourd, or Custard Marrow, bears a flattened 
fruit with scalloped edges, and is sweeter than the true marrow. 

The average chemical composition of these three vegetable fruits 


is as follows: 

Pumpkin 


Squash 

Vegetable Mabrow 

Water 

93.10 percent 

88.30 per cent 

91.90 per cent 

Protein 

1.00 “ 

< c 

1.40 “ “ 

1.00 “ “ 

Fat 

0.15 “ 

i i 

0.50 “ “ 

0.10 “ “ 

Carbohydrate 

5.20 “ 

l ( 

9.00 “ “ 

5.20 “ “ 

Fiber 

1.10 “ 

i < 

0.80 “ “ 

0.70 “ “ 

Mineral matter 0.60 “ 

i ( 

0.80 “ “ 

0.50 “ “ 


The alkaline elements of potash, soda and lime make up a 
large percentage of the mineral matter. 


278 


RATIONAL DIET 


THE TOMATO 

The tomato (lycopersicum esculentum) is the fruit of the 
tomato vine, which is a member of the nightshade family. It 
probably comes to us from Central America or Peru. It was 
formerly known as the “love apple’’ and first grown mainly for 
ornamental purposes. It was brought to Europe in the sixteenth 
century, and is now grown extensively on the shores of the Medi¬ 
terranean Sea, where the climate is admirably adapted to its 
propagation. 

It is now extensively cultivated in nearly all portions of the 
United States. In order to allow sufficient time for the tomato to 
fully ripen, the harvest is usually hastened by sowing the seed in a 
hotbed, and setting out the young plants as soon as danger from 
frost is past. In southern, frost-free countries, the tomato is 
perennial, and can be grown at any time of the year. 

The average chemical composition of the tomato is as follows: 

Water 93.0 per cent 

Protein 1.0 “ “ 

Fat 0.3 “ 

Carbohydrates (in¬ 
cluding sucrose, 
dextrose and 

levulose) 4.0 “ “ 

Fiber 0.7 “ 

Mineral matter 0.6 “ “ 

The mineral matter is strongly alkaline, containing a large 
proportion of the salts of potash, lime, magnesia and iron. 

Many vegetables and fruits, including the tomato, owing to 
the presence of citric acid and other similar acids, are not alkaline 
when eaten, but are potentially alkaline, as these acids, after being 
burned in the body, leave behind an alkaline salt. The acid of 
the tomato, about 0.5 per cent, is mostly malic, combined with a 
small amount of citric, and a trace of oxalic and other organic 
acids. 

It is a mistake to exclude the tomato from the diet of people 
suffering from gout and rheumatism because of the oxalic acid it 
contains. The amount is too small to have any effect upon the 
system. Besides, this acid always occurs in connection with alkaline 
bases. The tomato eaten in its natural state, especially in the 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


279 


form of combination salads, is highly beneficial in reducing the 
acidity of the blood and removing uric acid from the system. 

A large proportion of the tomato crop in the United States 
is canned, and is also used in the manufacture of tomato catsup. 

GREEN LEAF VEGETABLES 

The green vegetables contain only a small percentage of solid 
nourishment, but they are rich in alkaline salts, especially soda, 
lime, and iron, and, therefore, from a hygienic point of view are 
highly important. The leaves, consisting of a frame work of 
fibrous tissue, upon which the protoplasmic cells are spread out, 
serve principally for the respiration and nutrition of the plant, 
by exposing the chlorophyll-bearing cells to the air and light. 
Besides, the leaves contain an appreciable amount of organic acids 
and vitamins, which are important factors in promoting the per¬ 
formance of the physiological functions of the body. The salts 
enter the vegetables by their roots in the form of “ions,” or 
electrically charged molecules, and circulate as such through their 
fluids and tissues. It is here that the great importance of organic 
salts becomes apparent, as the function of food is not merely to be 
burned up, and to furnish calories, but to supply vital electricity 
in the form of negatively and positively charged ions. The calories 
of food are really but of secondary importance. Digestion, assim¬ 
ilation, and elimination—in fact, all processes of life and growth— 
depend upon the presence of electrolytes, or electrically charged 
ions. A constant osmotic pressure between the cells is maintained 
by the organic salts, which are just as important for the life of 
the cells as proteins and vitamins. 

In dried vegetables the organic salts are no longer found in their 
ionized form, and have lost some of their physiological value. 
Again, when vegetables are boiled, they lose a large amount of 
soluble nutrients—5 to 10 per cent protein; 30 to 50 per cent of 
the carbohydrates; and about 50 per cent of the organic salts. 
They should, therefore, be steamed or baked, or at least stewed in 
their own juices, if they are not eaten raw. 

Fresh vegetable juice, made by grinding the vegetables in a 
food chopper, and pressing the pulp through cheese cloth, have a 
great therapeutic value and may often be used in infant feeding. 
Owing to their high content of alkaline salts and mild organic 


280 


RATIONAL DIET 



Vegetable steamers with perforated metal containers or wire baskets for 
preparing one or several kinds of vegetables, with the least possible impair¬ 
ment of their nutritive value. 


acids, fresh vegetable juices, when absorbed, exert a salutary in¬ 
fluence on the composition of the blood by increasing its alkalinity. 

The protein in green vegetables is small comparatively, but the 
smaller and younger the leaves, the richer they are in this food 
principle. 

Complete analyses of most vegetables are to be found in the 
general tables (in the appendix). 

The principal varieties of green leaf vegetables are briefly de¬ 
scribed here. 

The Artichoke (cynara scolymus), which belongs to the thistle 
family, is cultivated for the sake of its immature flower heads, 
which are served chiefly either steamed, or cooked in water or 
milk. When the leaf stalks are blanched by tying them up, the 
term 1 ‘chard” is applied to the white and tender leaves. 

Cabbage (brassica oleracea) and its varieties, in which may be 
included broccoli, brussels sprouts, red cabbage, savoy cabbage, 
cauliflower, chard, kale, kohlrabi, have been mostly cultivated from 
the wild cabbage, or colewort. They all contain a considerable 
amount of sulphur, lime and iron. The chemical analysis shows 
on an average of about 90 per cent water; from 2 to 4 per cent 
protein; 5 to 10 per cent carbohydrates; 0.5 to 1.5 per cent fiber; 
and from 0.5 to 2.5 per cent mineral matter. These properties vary 
greatly in different kinds of soil. 

Celery (apium graveolens) which grows wild in damp and 
marshy places throughout Europe and Asia, has been cultivated 
since the time of ancient Greece. There are now about forty va- 






















VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


281 


rieties, and many more sub-varieties. The tender blanching leaf 
stalks are the result of long years of cultivation. On the continent 
of Europe, a variety, known as “celeriac” is cultivated, to which 
reference will be made under ‘‘Succulent Roots and Bulbs/' 
Celery is rich in potash, lime, sulphur and chlorine, while celeriac 
is especially rich in sodium, iron and chlorine. 

Dandelion (leontodon taraxacum) leaves when young and ten¬ 
der are very valuable for salads on account of their richness in 
alkaline elements. They are especially recommended for cleansing 
the kidneys. 

The Endive (cliicorium endivia), sometimes called “winter let¬ 
tuce,” belongs to the same family as the dandelion. It was culti¬ 
vated at an early date in the Orient, and is found wild in all coun¬ 
tries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The green tops make 
excellent salad. 

The Chicory (chicorium intybus) is closely related to the 
endive and dandelion. The leaves are rather bitter, but are used 
in salads. Under cultivation a large root is developed, which is 
used as a coffee substitute. 

Lettuce (lactuca capiiata) is the most important of the succu¬ 
lent vegetables. It was cultivated by the ancient Greeks and 
Romans, and used as a salad plant. There are several species and 
about one hundred varieties, of which cos lettuce and cabbage let¬ 
tuce are the most widely used. The former has large upright leaves, 
while the latter has round leaves of a more spreading character, 
which grow nearer to the ground. The juice of the leaf is milky and 
possesses mild, soporific properties, on account of the presence of a 
small amount of lactuarium, or lettuce opium. Lettuce on an aver¬ 


age contains: 


94.00 per cent 

1.30 “ “ 

0.40 “ “ 

2.70 “ “ 

1.00 “ “ 


Water 

Protein 

Fat 

Carbohydrates 
Mineral matter 


It is strongly alkaline, being especially rich in potash, lime 
and iron. A few crisp leaves of lettuce should be eaten daily. 

Mustard Greens (sinapis), the leaves of the wild mustard plant, 
may be used as salads, or cooked alone or in combination with 
other vegetables. They contain some of the essential oil of mustard, 
which gives them a pungent taste. 


282 


RATIONAL DIET 


Parsley (apium petroselmum) is another herb which is mostly 
used for flavoring in salads and soups. All parts of the plant 
contain an oil, to which its flavor and other properties are due. 

Rhubarb or Pie Plant (rheum rhaponticum) is a valuable ar¬ 
ticle of diet, rich in organic salts and fruit acids, which include 
about 2.5 per cent oxalic acid. The stems are generally cooked 
and used for sauces and pies. As a sweetening, honey, raisins, or 
dates should be used instead of refined sugar. 

Sorrel (rumex-acetosa) is generally used as a salad, in com¬ 
bination with endive, lettuce and similar vegetables. It contains 
much free acid, especially tartaric and oxalic—of the latter, be¬ 
tween three and four per mille, mostly in the form of oxalate 
of calcium and potassium. It is exceedingly rich in iron. 

Spinach (spinacea oleracea) comes to us from northern Asia, 
and was even common in Biblical times. It was introduced into 
Europe during the sixteenth century. It is rich in sodium, calcium, 
and iron, and, therefore, an excellent blood builder, especially if 
eaten uncooked, as a salad. It is usually boiled in water, but 
steaming is to be preferred, as the salts may thereby be preserved. 
Spinach, if grown in well fertilized soil is one of the most excellent 
sources of the vitamins and iron. 

Two varieties of the plant are grown: the winter or perpetual 
spinach, having small prickly leaves; and the smooth leaf variety, 
having thick, fleshy and crumpled leaves. 

New Zealand Spinach (tetragonia expansa) is a hardy peren¬ 
nial in sub-tropical countries, and a native of Australia. It is 
now grown in many parts of the United States and England. It 
is capable of bearing drought better than ordinary spinach, often 
replacing the latter where its growth fails. 

Watercress (nasturtium officinale) is the most important of 
the cresses. It grows near ditches and ponds, and is also widely 
cultivated. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, but are 
most valuable for combination salads, on account of their anti¬ 
scorbutic properties. Watercress contains all the essential vita¬ 
mins. It is rich in the alkaline elements, especially potassium, 
calcium and magnesium; also in sodium and chlorine. The sharp 
taste of watercress is probably due to the large amount of sulphur 
found in the leaves. 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 283 

SUCCULENT BOOTS AND BULBS 

The succulent roots are so designated on account of their com¬ 
paratively large percentage of water, which ranges from 75 to 90 
per cent. They are not as rich in alkaline elements as the green 
vegetables, but they contain a sufficient amount to be most valuable 
adjuncts of a dietary, if properly prepared. Beets, carrots and 
some of the radishes come nearest to the green vegetables in 
alkaline properties. 

Beets (beta vulgaris) are cultivated in many varieties through¬ 
out the temperate and sub-tropical zones. The most common are 
the white, or yellow, and the red beets. The sugar beet is largely 
grown in France, Germany, Belgium, America, and other countries, 
for the manufacture of sugar. A considerable portion of the 
carbohydrates contained in beets is chemically known as cane sugar, 
w T hich in the best varieties often amounts to 20 and even 30 per 
cent. Sugar beets, if cut into small pieces and boiled in just enough 
w T ater to cover them, resemble very much stewed apples, and the 
water in which they are boiled makes a wholesome, nutritious 
drink, if sufficiently cooled. Here one has the natural sugar 
(sucrose) of the beet and most of the alkaline elements, which are 
completely removed in the refining process. 

Finely-grated white or red beets are often used uncooked for 
salads, in combination with other vegetables. They may also be 
baked, like potatoes, which is the best way to prepare them for those 
whose digestive organs are impaired. If beets are cooked in water, 
the latter should always be carefully preserved, as it contains a 
large portion of sugar and organic salts. As previously mentioned, 
beet tops and stems, especially those of the red variety, resemble 
in beneficial qualities those of the green vegetables, and they 
should, therefore, be always used while fresh. 

Carrots (daucus carota) have been cultivated for more than 
two thousand years in Europe and western Asia. By persistent 
cultivation the root of the wild plant, which is white, slender and 
hard, with an acrid taste, has been transformed into a thick, 
fleshy, succulent root of orange color, with a sweet and agreeable 
taste. There are now about thirty varieties. Young carrots are 
more satisfactory than old ones, as the latter have a tendency to 
become woody, especially at the core. As in beets, the carbohy¬ 
drates of the carrot consist of a large percentage of sugar, often 


284 


RATIONAL DIET 


as much as 12 per cent, although 6 to 7 per cent constitutes an 
average. The mineral matter is rich in all the alkaline elements— 
potash, soda, lime, magnesia and iron—making up about 75 per 
cent of the total amount. If carrots are finely grated, a process 
which breaks up the cells, a rich, juicy and sweet pulp will be ob¬ 
tained, which is easily digested even by the weakest of stomachs. 
If the pulp is pressed through cheese cloth and carefully strained, 
it may occasionally be given to infants. Like beets, carrots are 
best steamed or baked, in order to avoid appreciable loss in 
organic salts. With due care they may also be boiled or stewed. 

Radishes (raplianus sativus) are grown in over forty varieties, 
in all kinds of shapes and colors. The most commonly known in 
the United States are the small ones with red exterior and white 
flesh. The roots have a very fine flavor and when young are 
crisp, juicy and tender; but when old, they contain much woody 
fiber, and are difficult to digest. The pungent flavor of radishes is 
due to organic compounds, containing sulphur, similar to the 
essential oil in mustard. 

In addition to the small pink and red radishes, there are some 
large varieties cultivated, among which the Japanese white radish 
and the black radish are best known. Radishes are preferably 
eaten in their natural state or grated in combination salads. The 
mineral matter of the larger radishes especially abounds in potash, 
lime, iron and sulphur. Radish leaves can be used for greens, or 
if very tender, added to salads. 

Turnips (crassica napus). Innumerable varieties of turnips 
are grown throughout the temperate zones, of which the most 
common are the white and yellow turnip, and the Swedish turnip, 
or rutabaga. In summer the early white varieties are usually pre¬ 
ferred, while during winter the yellow turnips are more frequently 
consumed. The flavor of the turnip, like that of the cabbage and 
radishes, is primarily due to compounds of sulphur. In cooking, 
these pungent substances are broken down to some extent and pass 
off into the air. The carbohydrates of turnips are made up of 
glucose, sugar, pectose, pentosans and crude fiber. The mineral 
matter is rich in potash, soda and magnesia. 

Kohlrabi (brassica caulorapa) or turnip-rooted cabbage, is 
another variety of the turnip and cabbage family, in which the 
reserve food of the plant is stored up in a tuber-like enlargement 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


285 


of the stem, just above the ground. In flavor it is more delicate 
than either the turnip or cabbage. It can be either baked or cooked 
with other vegetables, to which some of the kohlrabi leaves may be 
added. 

Parsnips (pastinaca sativa) were quite familiar to the Romans, 
as they appear in ancient frescoes at Pompeii. They belong to the 
same botanical order as carrots, and resemble them in form and 
general habit of growth, but the flesh is of a light cream color, 
while the flavor is quite distinctive and very pronounced. The 
carbohydrates which make up about twelve per cent of the solid 
nourishment consist of 5 to 7 per cent of starch in exceedingly 
fine granules. The sugars vary from 3 to 7 per cent; gummy sub¬ 
stances, 5 to 6 per cent; protein, 1 to 1.5 per cent; cellulose, 1.5 to 
2.5 per cent; mineral matter averages 1.4 per cent, in which potash, 
lime and magnesia predominate. 

Celeriac (apium graveoleus) is the name applied to one variety 
of celery, which is chiefly grown for its roots. In Europe it is by 
far the most common form of celery, but it has never been exten¬ 
sively cultivated in the United States. The roots resemble the 
parsnip in color, but are more or less globular in shape, like turnips. 
For this reason the vegetable is often called turnip-rooted celery. 
The composition is very much like that of the other succulent 
roots. Potash, sodium and chlorine predominate in the mineral 
matter. Celeriac has a pronounced celery flavor, due to an essential 
oil, like that found in the seed, which is rather strong in the raw 
root. If baked and sliced, it makes a wholesome and delicious 
addition to salad. 

Salsify (trapagon sorrifolius) is the name generally given to 
three different kinds of vegetables: the common white salsify, known 
also as oyster plant, or vegetable oyster; the black salsify, the 
Schwarz Wurzel of the German, and the Spanish salsify. Both 
common and black salsify resemble the other succulent roots in 
general character. The principal carbohydrate stored in black 
salsify is inulin, which is transformed into sugar by the action of 
hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Inulin replaces starch in many 
plants as reserve carbohydrate, and from a physiological point of 
view it serves the same purpose in the body. The leaves of salsify, 
if young and crisp, may be eaten as a salad. In the mineral matter 


286 


RATIONAL DIET 


of this vegetable, potash, lime, magnesia and iron constitute the 
larger portion. 

Onions, Garlic, Leek and Chives are all members of the large 
onion family (allium) and are characterized by the presence of an 
acrid volatile principle, an oil-like organic compound of sulphur, 
which gives them very valuable purifying properties. They form 
an important class of vegetables, whether used in the cooked or 
raw state. The onion (allium cepa) was cultivated for thousands of 
years by the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews. It was said that the 
onion was worshiped in Egypt before the Christian era, and that 
nine tons of gold were spent in buying onions for the workmen 
during the building of the pyramids. 

Onions grown in warm countries have a mild flavor, owing to 
a smaller amount of the acrid principle than is contained in those 
of colder countries. 

In the United States the onion holds third place among the 
truck crops. About 15 million bushels are raised annually. Large 
quantities are also imported from southern Europe, Bermuda, 
and the West Indies. Onions, like lettuce, have a soporific effect. 

Chives and leeks, two other varieties of the onion family, 
develop very small bulbs and are usually grown for their leaves; 
leeks being used as a green vegetable, or pot herb, and chives mostly 
for seasoning. 

Garlic (allium sativum) is the most strongly flavored of the 
plants of the allium family. It is grown extensively, and is much 
esteemed in southern Europe. It produces a collection of small 
bulbs, called cloves, in place of one large bulb. Some of the mixed 
varieties grown in the Mediterranean region are eaten as vegetables, 
but in this country garlic is generally used for flavoring. Rightly 
used, it may add to the payability of salads and many other dishes. 

The chemical composition of onions varies according to the 
stage of growth and variety, but is similar to that of the other 
succulent roots. Onions, if stored for awhile, lose some of their 
water and consequently change the proportion of their solid con¬ 
tents. The average composition of onions is as follows: 


Water 

Protein 

Fat 

Carbohydrates 
Mineral matter 


60.0 to 90.0 per cent 
1.0 to 5.0 “ 


0.1 to 0.8 “ 

5.0 to 25.0 “ “ 

0.5 to 1.2 “ 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


287 


On account of their large contents of lime and iron, onions 
and leeks are especially beneficial to anemic and diabetic people. 

Asparagus (asparagus officinalis) was cultivated from the ear¬ 
liest Roman times and is grown throughout the temperate zones. 
It is valued for its young and tender shoots, which are generally 
boiled, but which may be also used uncooked in combination salads. 
Asparagus is especially rich in sodium, calcium, iron and sulphur. 
It also contains a nitrogenous principle called * ‘ asparagin, ’ ’ which 
has diuretic properties. The strong odor of the urine after eating 
asparagus is caused by a volatile sulphur compound. 

Horseradish (cochlearia armoracia) is a plant of the mustard 
family, which is cultivated throughout the north temperate zone; 
it is also frequently found wild in the United States. The root is 
long, rather slender, and has a sharp, peppery flavor owing to the 
presence of an essential oil, which is dissipated by drying. It 
resembles in general character the oils in the radish and other 
members of the mustard family. Horseradish is generally used 
grated, taking the place of a condiment rather than a food in diet. 
Taken moderately in salads, and without vinegar, it promotes 
the flow of the digestive juices. It may also be cooked with other 
vegetables. 

Chemical analysis shows: 


Water 

86.4 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.4 

C l 

< < 

Fat 

0.2 

11 

i i 

Total Carbohy¬ 
drates (mostly 
starch) 

10.5 

(( 

i i 

Mineral matter 

1.5 

( l 

C l 


The mineral matter consists chiefly of potash, lime, magnesia 
and sulphur. Containing as it does a very large amount of sulphur 
in an organized form, horseradish is one of the most valuable anti¬ 
scorbutic vegetables, besides being of value in chronic rheumatism 
and dropsical conditions. 

Ginger (zingiber officinale) is the underground root stock of the 
ginger plant, which is a native of India, China and the Moluccas, 
but is now cultivated to a very large extent in the West Indies. 
Jamaica ginger is probably the best known variety. The plants 
are set out in March or April, flower in September; the seeds are 


288 


RATIONAL DIET 


formed in January, after which the leaves wither. The roots are 
then dug up and trimmed, washed and treated with boiling water 
to prevent germination, and rapidly dried. Thus prepared, they 
constitute the unbleached, or black ginger White ginger is pre¬ 
pared from the best peeled roots, which are carefully dried in the 
sun. 

Ginger is a stimulating aromatic spice, much used in baking. 
The ginger root consists of: 

Water 85.6 per cent 

Protein 1.0 “ “ 

Fat ' 0.6 “ “ 

Sugar and starch 11.4 “ “ 

Crude Fiber 1.0 “ “ 

Mineral matter 1.4 “ 11 

Of the total fat, about half consists of the ethereal oil which, 
together with a pungent, non-volatile constituent, called gingerol, 
gives to ginger its characteristic flavor. 

Ginger may be used occasionally in very small quantities as a 
spice in bread, but confections and beverages made from ginger 
should be avoided. 

Sassafras (sassafras variifolium) is a small tree growing along 
the Atlantic Coast, and in the interior of the United States. The 
bark of the small stems, and especially the root, yields a flavoring 
extract valued in the preparation of beverages and confectionery. 
A tea made from the roots, once known as “saloop,” is still used to 
some extent in the home, and commercially. 

STARCHY ROOTS 

The Potato (solarium tuberosum) is a member of the night¬ 
shade family, which includes the tomato and eggplant, and also 
tobacco. Its tubers constitute a staple food for millions of people 
all over the globe; and at present, next to cereals, it is probably 
the most important food product of the human race. It is a 
native of the elevated valleys of Chili, Peru, and Mexico. It was 
brought to Europe between 1580 and 1585, first by the Spaniards, 
and later by the English, at the time of Sir Walter Raleigh’s 
voyages to Virginia. Raleigh first cultivated it in Ireland, where 
he had large estates, but the potato did not come into general use 
on the continent until the middle of the eighteenth century. As 
the potato yields twenty to thirty times the weight of wheat. 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


289 


barley or oats, its great value as an almost indispensable staple 
food becomes apparent. In 1915, the potato crop of the United 
States amounted to about 360 million bushels, valued at 220 
million dollars, or about 60c per bushel. Part of the annual crop 
is used for stock food and manufacturing purposes, but by far 
the largest portion finds its way in various forms to our tables. 

The relatively large yield of the potato in the United States 
is shown by the following figures, giving a ten years’ average: 
Potatoes, 92 bushels per acre; corn, 26 bushels per acre; wheat, 
14.3 bushels per acre. These figures are far exceeded by European 
statistics, which report an average yield of 190 bushels in Germany; 
216 bushels in Denmark; 295 bushels in Holland, and 305 bushels 
in Belgium. Germany, however, leads all European countries in 
the total amount of potatoes produced, in the percentage of acreage 
devoted to their cultivation, as well as in the annual per capita 
consumption. About sixty million bushels of an inferior variety 
of the potato are raised annually for distillation into alcohol in 
Germany for industrial purposes. 

The potato, strictly speaking, is not a root, but a modified stem, 
shortened and thickened to form a storehouse for material held 
in reserve for the propagation of young plants. By making a cross 
section through a potato, four distinct divisions may be seen: first, 
the skin; second, the cortical layer, which varies in thickness from 
one-eighth to one-half an inch and contains a higher percentage of 
the mineral matter and other nutrients than the tuber as a whole. 
The interior of the potato is made up of the outer and inner 
medullary, or pithyareas. The outer one forms the main bulk, and 
contains the greater portion of carbohydrates, varying with the 
state of growth; while the inner area, appearing in a cross section 
like a star, sometimes called the core, contains slightly more 
cellulose and water than the outer portion. According to a French 
investigator the different parts of the potato are made up as 
follows: skin, 8.8 per cent; cortical layer, 36.2 per cent; outer 
medullary area, 34 per cent, and inner medullary area, 15 per cent. 

The skin of the potato contains a small proportion of an alkaloid, 
called solanin, which is removed with the peel, or destroyed by heat, 
when the tubers are baked or boiled. 

According to Dr. William Tibbies, an English authority, who 


290 RATIONAL DIET 

collected over thirty analyses of the potato, its average composition 
is as follows: 


Water 

75.66 

per 

cent 

Protein 

2.05 

< ( 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

19.94 

i < 

< < 

Fiber 

1.02 

(i 

< c 

Mineral matter 

1.08 

(i 

(t 


Phosphate of potash, magnesia and chlorine constitute the 
larger portion of the organic salts. The percentage of iron and 
lime is rather small in the potato, and it should, therefore, be 
eaten in combination with green leaf vegetables to make up for 
the deficiency. Several organic acids, such as citric and tartaric, 
are also found in the potato. 

In preparing the potato for the table a large part of its 
nutriment is lost. In paring raw potatoes by hand the average 
loss is about 20 per cent, and not only includes all the skin and 
cortical layer, but also ten per cent of the flesh. The mechanical 
potato peeler usually removes the skin with little loss of edible 
material. A further loss of nearly 20 per cent occurs by boiling 
peeled potatoes. Boiling them in the skin, steaming them, or best 
of all baking them, are therefore the methods to be recommended 
from an economic and hygienic point of view. 

During the process of boiling, the temperature of the interior 
of the potato is perhaps a trifle lower than that of the water. When 
baked, the temperature of the interior of the potato reaches 212 
degrees F., but does not exceed this, if cooked only until tender. 
To prevent overbaking, a dish of water may be placed in the oven 
with the potatoes. The heat and steam break up the cell walls and 
release the starch, which is partially changed into dextrin, and 
is very readily assimilated. If the uncooked potato is sufficiently 
masticated, or finely grated, so that the cell w T alls are ruptured, 
the raw starch will be dissolved by the digestive juices, and at the 
same time the action of vitamins found in the potato will be 
assured. 

During the World War enormous quantities of potatoes were 
desiccated and used in various forms by the fighting armies, es¬ 
pecially those of the Central Powers. The dried potato is equal 
in nutritive value to some of the cereal flours. Potato starch, 
often sold under the name of potato flour, cannot well be recom- 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


291 


mended as an article of diet, as during the process of manufacture 
the organic salts are removed. 

The Sweet Potato (convolvulus batatas) is also extensively 
grown, but unlike the white potato, is chiefly a product of the 
warmer temperate zones, or sub-tropical countries. It constitutes 
an important food crop in the Gulf States, California, West Indies, 
Hawaii and the Philippines. It is said that Columbus on his return 
to Spain presented a sweet potato to Queen Isabella. Since that 
time it has become an important root crop in Spain, and is one 
of the principal root crops of the Madeira Islands. Portuguese sea¬ 
men took it to Japan, where it is now one of the leading crops 
on the upland fields of the southwestern part of the mainland. 

The sweet potato is a true root, and not a tuber. It also 
differs from the white potato in that its carbohydrates contain con¬ 
siderable quantities of sugar in the form of cane sugar, and invert 
sugar, or glucose. The proportion of sugar is greater in roots 
grown in warmer countries, and in tropical sweet potatoes sugar 
and starch are found in almost equal quantities. Those grown in 
the Middle Atlantic states do not average more than 5 or 6 per 
cent sugar, or about 20 per cent of their total carbohydrates. 
During their storage, however, some of the starch is converted 
into sucrose, or cane sugar, and in this respect the sweet potato 
resembles the banana, whose starch is also converted into sugar 
(mostly glucose) if stored in a moderately warm place. The aver¬ 
age of a large number of analyses made by the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture is as follows: 


Water 

69.00 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.80 

< < 

( c 

Fat 

0.70 

C l 

(< 

Carbohydrates 

27.40 

( t 

i l 

Fiber 

1.30 

(( 

(< 

Mineral matter 

1.10 

( l 

<« 


Like the wince potato, the sweet potato contains a considerable 
amount of phosphate of potash, but is richer in lime and chlorine. 

Sweet potatoes are best when boiled in the skin, or baked like 
white potatoes. They should be cooked slowly and for quite a long 
time. An hour in the oven at a low heat serves to develop the best 
flavor. Sweet potatoes, like the white potatoes, are often desiccated, 
and in this form they will keep for a long time. 


292 


RATIONAL DIET 


Arrowroot is the commercial name of a starchy food derived 
from the root stock of several tropical plants, natives of both the 
East and West Indies. The principal varieties used are maranta 
arundinaca, canna edulis and tacca pinnatifidia ; the latter is 
known as Madagascar Arrowroot, as it is chiefly grown on this 
island. 

The preparation of arrowroot starch consists in washing, peel¬ 
ing, grinding or grating the roots of the plants and straining 
the pulp through cloth. The strained liquid, resembling milk, is 
placed in a container, where the starch settles at the bottom. The 
liquid on top which has most of the protein and organic salts is 
then drained off. The residue, after it is dried, contains over 
eighty per cent starch and has an insipid taste. Although it is 
easily digested and often prescribed for invalids and convales¬ 
cents, it is of little hygienic value, as it is almost entirely deficient 
in blood and tissue building elements. 

The Jerusalem Artichoke (helianthus tuberosus) is a tuber 
of a variety of the sunflower family. It is indigenous to Canada 
and the upper Mississippi Valley, and was cultivated by the 
American Indians. It was introduced into Europe early in the 
seventeenth century. The name “Jerusalem” is a corruption of 
the Italian gerasole, whereas ‘ ‘ artichoke ’’ alludes to the artichoke 
flavor of the tuber. 

In Europe, and to a certain extent, in the United States, it 
is considered a valuable plant; the bright yellow flowers at the top 
of the tall stalks no doubt help to make the plant attractive. It 
is often grown on the edge of a garden and the tubers are dug 
for home use. They contain on an average: 


Water 

78.7 

per 

cent 

Protein 

2.5 

( < 

<« 

Carbohydrates 

17.5 

< < 

< < 

Fat 

0.2 

i t 

< < 

Mineral matter 

1.1 

l c 

< < 


The carbohydrates in the Jerusalem artichoke contain no starch, 
but inulin and levulin, which are closely related to starch, but are 
inverted into levulose. The tubers do not, like potatoes, become 
mealy in boiling, as there are no starch globules to swell up and 
absorb moisture, resulting in an expanded condition after cooking. 
Like the potato, the Jerusalem artichoke contains a large amount of 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


293 


phosphate of potash, but a larger amount of lime and iron than 
the former. 

The Cassava (manihot utilissima) is one of the tropical rivals 
of the sweet potato, and extensively used for human food. A 
dried starch product is also prepared from the cassava, which is 
brought into the markets of the temperate zone under the name of 
tapioca. The cassava plant, which is a bushy shrub, reaches a 
height of eight or ten feet and develops roots about two inches thick 
and about four feet long, often weighing from ten to thirty pounds. 

The plant is a native of America, but is now extensively grown 
in India, South and Central America, Africa and the West Indies. 
In the United States the cassava may be grown successfully near 
the Gulf Coast. In some of the tropical countries the cassava fur¬ 
nishes the material for bread. The raw root contains some prus¬ 
sic acid, which is destroyed in the boiling process. The native 
dries and grates the boiled roots, which are then made into cassa¬ 
va cakes. Sometimes the roots are baked like potatoes. In the 
Congo the natives eat the cassava in place of bread. It often 
requires fully nine months for the cassava to mature, which is 
quite as long as wheat and longer than many of our other cereal 
foods. It is more productive than the potato of the temperate zone. 

Tapioca, or cassava starch, is made chiefly of the cassava plant 
from the grated roots, (manihot utilissima), which are mixed with 
water and then filtered through cloth to remove the cellulose. 
The starch settles in the liquid, and while moist, is gradually 
heated until the starch granules are broken up, and the mass be¬ 
comes agglutinated and rather firm. It is prepared for the market 
in three forms, viz., pearl tapioca, tapioca flake, and tapioca flour. 
It is evident that these products are deficient in mineral matter, 
which is largely lost in the water, as shown by the following table, 
according to analyses made by Drs. Wiley and Atwater: 


Sweet Cassava Sweet Cassava Tapioca 
Fresh Dried Average 


Water 

60.72 

per 

cent 

8.26 

per 

cent 

11.40 

per 

cent 

Protein 

0.64 

i i 

(i 

1.66 

(( 

< ( 

0.40 

< i 

11 

Fat 

0.17 

( < 

ft 

0.44 

11 

< < 

0.10 

11 

i < 

Starch and sugar 

30.89 

t e 

a 

80.06 

i i 

11 

88.00 

i i 

< < 

Fiber 

0.85 

( i 

i ( 

4.30 

i i 

. 11 


11 

< i 

Mineral matter 

0.74 

t ( 

ft 

3.28 

(< 

i ( 

0.10 

( i 

l c 


Tapioca is generally prepared from the bitter cassava root. No 



294 


RATIONAL DIET 


special analysis of the mineral matter has been made, but the chief 
elements present are probably phosphate of potash and magnesia. 

Yams (dioscorea batatas) belong to a group of about two hun¬ 
dred species of tropical and semi-tropical climbing plants, culti¬ 
vated for their edible starch-yielding roots. They are native to 
southeastern Asia, and but little known in the United States. They 
are staple foods in Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. The 
roots vary greatly in size, some being no larger than potatoes, 
while others attain a length of several feet, and a weight of forty 
to fifty pounds. The common method of growing the yam is to 
let the vines run on poles, carefully removing the big fleshy roots 
from time to time without disturbing the plant. 

In appearance yams look like sweet potatoes of medium size, 
while in flavor and chemical composition they closely resemble po¬ 
tatoes. They are not as suitable as the potato for shipping, as 
they lack keeping qualities. For this reason they are usually left 
in the ground until required for use. The yam may be called the 
potato of the tropics, and it is prepared in much the same way. 
Starch and flour are also made from yams and used in tropical 
countries as bread making material. Yams contain: 


Water 

73.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.8 

11 

< < 

Fat 

0.2 

i i 

«< 

Carbohydrates 

23.3 

i ( 

< { 

Crude Fiber 

0.6 

«< 

(< 

Mineral matter 

0.9 

< i 

i ( 


Dasheen, Taro and Yautia are closely related, botanically, be¬ 
longing to the Arum family, which includes also the caladium, 
an ornamental plant, known as “elephant’s ear/’ as well as the 
calla lily and the Indian turnip. The three varieties all form large 
underground root stocks, or corms, of spherical shape, but slightly 
pointed toward the top, sometimes weighing over five pounds. 

The root of the dasheen (caladium esculentum) consists of a 
large central root stock from which tubers branch out on all sides. 
They grow well in wet lands, and make a profitable root crop in 
soils too moist to be adapted to the growth of potatoes or sweet 
potatoes. 

The root of Taro (colocasia esculenta) is a staple food through¬ 
out the South Sea Islands. “Poi,” the cooked and slightly fer¬ 
mented paste of the grated taro, is a favorite dish of the Hawaiians. 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 295 

The color of the roots varies from white, or cream color, to 
orange, brown, or lavender. The starch granules are very much 
smaller than those of potatoes and other starchy roots. The chemi¬ 
cal composition of the three varieties is very much alike, as shown 
in the following table: 


Dasheen Taro Yautia 


Water 

65.7 

per 

cent 

70.9 

per 

cent 

70.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 

3.0 

< < 

< i 

1.8 

< < 

< < 

2.2 

i i 

< < 

Fat 

0.2 

l c 

(t 

0.2 

< c 

t ( 

0.2 

c ( 

< : 

Starch, sugar, etc. 

28.8 

l i 

t ( 

23.2 

< 1 

(( 

26.1 

(( 

( c 

Crude fiber 

0.7 

(( 

t i 

0.8 

< t 

<1 

0.6 

t < 

( i 

Mineral matter 

1.3 

i ( 

11 

1.2 

11 

i < 

0.9 

( c 

( i 


Sago, generally known as pearl sago, is an extracted starch 
prepared from a deposit in the trunk of several palms, the prin¬ 
cipal source being the sago palm, (rhapis flabelliformis), a native 
of the East Indian Archipelago. The trees flourish only in the low 
marshy lands of the tropics. They attain maturity as starch yield¬ 
ing plants at the age of about fifteen years, when the stem becomes 
filled with a large mass of spongy, medullary matter, around which 
is an outer rind consisting of a hard, dense, woody wall about two 
inches thick. When the fruit is allowed to form and ripen, the 
whole of this starchy core disappears, leaving the stem a mere 
hollow shell. When ripe the palms are cut down, the stems di¬ 
vided into sections and split up, and the starch pith extracted 
and grated into powder. The latter is then kneaded in water over a 
strainer, through which the starch passes, leaving the woody fiber 
behind. The starch settles in the bottom of the trough, in which 
it is floated, and, after one or two washings, is fit for use by the 
natives for cakes and soups. The sago intended for export is mixed 
into a paste with water, and rubbed thoroughly through sieves into 
small grains. 

Sago is a demineralized product and has no more nutritive 
value than white flour products. 

FUNGI and ALGAE 

Edible Fungi may be divided into mushrooms (agaricus cam- 
pestris), morels (morchella esculenta) and truffles (tuber libar- 
ium) to which may be added the lichens, of which the most im¬ 
portant is Iceland moss (cetraria islandica), and algae (fucus, 


296 


RATIONAL DIET 


alva, etc.), which are plants of a very simple structure, living in 
water or upon moist surfaces, including agar-agar and Irish moss 
(fucus crispus). 

The general composition of the various fungi shows that they 
have not a high nutritive value. The average amount of pro¬ 
tein they contain is 3.5 per cent. The mineral matter consists 
mostly of phosphoric acid and potash, and in the case of truffles, 
an appreciable amount of soda. They may be eaten occasionally 
for their flavor. The recognition of poisonous fungi is a matter of 
great importance. They have as a rule a cup or sac-like envelope 
near the base of the stem. Their taste is burning, bitter, astrin¬ 
gent, or otherwise disagreeable. Their color, with a few excep¬ 
tions, is red, pink or orange. They generally grow in decaying 
wood and vegetation. In order to determine the character of the 
fungi, cooks often use a silver fork or spoon, as the metal is not 
affected by edible fungi, while it turns black if brought into con¬ 
tact, while cooking, with the poisonous varieties. 

The commercial cultivation of mushrooms has also been devel¬ 
oped in France, England and later in the United States, and this 
will gradually diminish the danger of eating poisonous varieties. 

Iceland Moss is the most important of the edible lichens. It 
grows abundantly in the Arctic regions, where it serves as an im¬ 
portant food for the Laplanders and their reindeer. The bitter 
principle of the moss is removed to some extent by washing it in 
water, or in a weak alkali solution. Jellies are made from it by 
boiling it in water, or milk, with sugar or honey. A five per cent 
decoction will gelatinize on cooling. Considering the fact that in 
the inclement climate where Iceland moss grows most abundantly 
it serves as one of the principal food materials for the reindeer, 
upon which the natives to a large extent depend for milk and meat, 
it must have an appreciable nutritive value. Chemical analyses 
give the following composition of Iceland moss, partially dried: 


Water 

25.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 3 to 6.0 

i i 

i < 

Fat 

1.2 

< < 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

60.0 

i ( 

<. < 

Fiber 

5.3 

i t 

(t 

Mineral matter 

2.2 

(< 

(i 


The carbohydrates are in the form of lichenin, or moss-starch, 
which is not deposited in granules, as in the cereals and root, but is 


VEGETABLES, ORDERS AND VALUE 


297 


uniformly distributed throughout the cells. Like ordinary starch, 
it is readily converted into dextrose and maltose. No special analy¬ 
sis has been made of the mineral matter. Algae includes sever¬ 
al varieties of seaweed used as food for men and animals. The 
most important of these plants is Irish moss, or carrageen, which 
is very abundant on rocky shores, especially those of Ireland, and 
grows from three quarter tide to below low water mark. Another 
seaweed, known as dulse or dillisk, is found in Scotland and Ire¬ 
land. If eaten raw, unwashed, the flavor is brought out by thorough 
mastication. The weeds are often prepared in various ways and, 
combined with oatmeal, are sometimes made into cakes. Accord¬ 
ing to Church, the composition of dried moss is as follows: 

Water 18.8 per cent 

Nitrogenous matter 9.4 “ 

Carbohydrates, etc. 55.4 “ “ 

Mineral matter 14.2 “ “ 

Cellulose 2.2 “ “ 

The carbohydrates are made up chiefly of a starchy substance 
called carrageenin, resembling the lichenin of Iceland moss. 

Agar-Agar, known also under the name of Japanese gelatin, or 
seagrass, occurs in thin, transparent strips of the thickness of 
straw, which dissolve almost entirely in hot water, forming a gela¬ 
tinous, tasteless and odorless jelly. It consists chiefly of a carbo¬ 
hydrate, called gelose, which is insoluble in cold water or alco¬ 
hol, but soluble in hot water, one part in 500 forming a jelly on 
cooling. Dried agar-agar in granular form is recommended for 
the relief of constipation, because of its mechanical action on the 
bowels, through the expansion of the cellulose. 

The “edible birds’ nests” which are highly valued as a deli¬ 
cacy in China are made of gelatinous seaweeds. They are eaten and 
disgorged by the swallows and then used in the construction of their 
nests. They are generally utilized in the preparation of soups. 


CHAPTER V 

Cereals, Legumes and Miscellaneous Food Products 

The cereals used for human consumption belong to the grass 
family, and are the seeds of the matured plants in which na¬ 
ture has stored the elements for the germination and growth of 
the embryo, such as gluten, fat, starch, organic salts and vitamins. 
The primary object of nature in developing the seed is evidently 
to provide sufficient organized food material, readily assimilable 
by the future plant, until its roots, stems and leaves have grown 
strong enough to absorb nourishment directly from the soil and air. 

Although it is evident that cereals were cultivated as staple 
foods for man before the dawn of recorded history, yet in the 
light of modern physiological chemistry they do not deserve the 
term “staff of life,” which is often accorded them, for the reason 
that even if eaten in their natural state, man cannot for an in¬ 
definite length of time live exclusively on cereals and retain the 
best of health. 

All cereals have a tendency to acidify the blood, since they 
carry a large amount of protein, carbohydrates and phosphoric 
acid. These compounds act as a natural stimulus for the embryo 
plant, but are detrimental to man if taken to excess. This condi¬ 
tion is naturally intensified in artificially prepared cereals that 
have been robbed of the larger portion of their alkaline content. 

p 

This point cannot be too strongly emphasized, because at present 
cereals form the larger portion of man’s food supply. Cereals, 
even in their natural state, are deficient in lime, soda and chlorine, 
and therefore they do not supply enough of the elements for build¬ 
ing sound and healthy teeth and bones. Wherever cereals are used 
as staple foods, they should always be supplemented by a liberal 
amount of green leaf vegetables, to supply the necessary alkaline 
elements. 

The principal cereals cultivated are wheat, corn, oats, barley, 
rye, rice, and to a smaller extent, buckwheat, millet, sorghum and 
flaxseed. 


298 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


299 


Wheat, oats, barley, and rye are chiefly grown in temperate 
zones, while corn and rice are more extensively grown in tropical 
and snb-tropical countries. Rice is the staple food for the teem¬ 
ing millions of southeastern Asia. The following table gives 
an idea of the immense production of cereals in the United States, 
and throughout the world: 


Production of Cereals in the United States in 1920 


Acres 


Bushels 


Corn 106,000,000 

Oats 41,032,000 

Winter Wheat 34,165,000 
Spring Wheat 19,487,000 
Barley 7,437,000 

Rye 5,470,000 

Grain Sorghums 4,000,000 
Rice 1,200,000 

Buckwheat 750,000 

Total 219,541,000 


3,232,367,000 

1,444,362,000 

532,641,000 

218,007,000 

191,387,000 

77,893,000 

150,000,000 

42,000,000 

13,789,000 

5,902,446,000 


World’s Production of the Principal Cereals 
(Approximate Figures in Millions of Bushels) 

Rice 4,200 

Corn 4,000 

Wheat 3,000 

Oats 3,000 

Barley 1,200 

Rye 600 

Total 16,000 million bushels 


The wheat of the world in 1922 was produced chiefly by the 


following countries: 

Country 

United States 

Canada 

India 

France 

Argentina 

Italy 

Australia 

Spain 

Roumania 

Germany 

All Others 

Total 


Percentage of Total 

Bushels 

Production 

810,000,000 

26.8 

389,000,000 

12.9 

366,000,000 

12.0 

235,000,000 

7.8 

181,000,000 

6.0 

162,000,000 

5.3 

132,000,000 

4.3 

126,000,000 

4.1 

77,000,000 

2.5 

70,000,000 

2.3 

464,000,000 

16.0 

3,012,000,000 

100.0 






300 


RATIONAL DIET 


Of the total amount of cereals produced in the United States, 
nearly 6,000 million bushels, the American people eat about 550 
million bushels, and 200 million bushels of other grains, while 350 
million bushels are exported. The remainder—about 4,800 million 
bushels, or 80 per cent—is mostly used for stock feed, to be con¬ 
verted into milk and meat. 

The average per capita consumption of cereals by the Ameri¬ 
can people is about 350 pounds, or about one pound per day for 
each man, woman and child. The reasons for this enormous con¬ 
sumption are primarily because of the cheapness of the cereals, 
and the comparative ease with which they can be harvested, shipped 
and stored, especially by the aid of modern machinery. 

The cultivation of cereals very likely began when man led a 
more or less nomadic existence, to which the raising of the annu¬ 
al grains was better suited than the planting of trees. In addi¬ 
tion, the grains furnished him food for his dray animals. During 
the course of centuries the various cereals have gradually assumed 
a leading place in the human dietary. When man, however, comes 
to realize the tremendous advantage that scientific and intensive 
horticulture has over the cultivation of the annual grasses, he 
will resort more and more to tree culture, wherever soil and climate 
are suitable. With the increasing knowledge of scientific plant 
breeding, fruit and nut culture will gradually expand into even 
the northern and mountainous countries. 

The chemical composition of the principal cereals is similar in 
water content, which on an average is about 13 per cent; and 
also in starch or carbohydrates, which range from 55 per cent 
in buckwheat to 71 per cent in rye. The greatest relative differ¬ 
ences are shown in the amount of fat, which is lowest in rice, about 
0.5 per cent, and in the amount of protein, which again is lowest in 
rice, about 7 per cent, and highest in some of the Russian and Si¬ 
berian wheats, in which the protein content often reaches 17 per 
cent. The mineral matter varies from less than 1 per cent in rice 
to over 3 per cent in oats. 

While it has been shown that cereals do not constitute an ideal 
food for man, it is to be deprecated that his foolish attempts to 
improve upon nature reduce their value to an appreciable degree. 
Modern milling processes remove from 50 to 75 per cent of the 
organic salts, while poisonous gases are often employed in order to 


301 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

produce snow white flours. Considering the enormous consump¬ 
tion of cereals and cereal products throughout the world, these 
wasteful methods are most tragic in their ultimate effect upon the 
health and vitality of people whose diet consists largely of devital¬ 
ized foods, such as white flour products, degerminated corn meal, 
polished rice, etc. 

A large number of children’s diseases, such as adenoids, swol¬ 
len tonsils, caries, rickets, and in later years, osteo-malacia, pel¬ 
lagra and beri-beri are the result of the continuous consumption of 
demineralized starchy foods, and lack of fresh fruits and vege¬ 
tables. 

WHEAT 

Wheat (triticum sativum), the great staple food of the Cau¬ 
casian race, is usually grown in all regions where the annual 
rainfall is less than thirty inches. In fact, some wheat is grown 
where the rainfall is annually less than ten inches. Frequent 
summer rains are not favorable to wheat growing, and the warm 
regions of heavy summer precipitation preclude its cultivation. 
The ideal wheat climate is found in countries of rainy winters 
and dry summers which prevail in most regions facing the Medi¬ 
terranean Sea, some parts of Persia, India, Siberia and America. 
Wheat lands also border the cooler edges of the deserts of South 
Africa and Australia. New Zealand has an average wheat yield of 
thirty bushels per acre, in contrast to the ten or twelve bushels 
of southern Australia. In South America the principal wheat 
growing country is the Argentine Republic. The most important 
wheat growing belt of North America reaches from Texas north 
through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota 
into Canada. The Pacific Coast States have excellent wheat yields 
in portions that have sufficient rainfall during the winter. Parts 
of California at one time developed an important winter wheat 
crop, which continued throughout several decades following 
settlement by Americans. In fact, the wheat crops of the great 
valleys of California were once world famous, but now they have 
been largely superseded by more profitable orchard products. 

In the northern portion of the Mississippi Valley, above 45 de¬ 
grees latitude, the winters are too cold for fall-sown or winter 
wheat, especially as there is no heavy snowfall to cover the ground 


302 


RATIONAL DIET 


for protection against heavy frosts; but the equally distributed 
rainfall from March to June permits the planting of wheat in the 
spring, and promotes the grassy growth of the spring wheat which 
ripens in the later and drier part of the summer. 

Europe has a climatic distribution similar to that of the United 
States. Near the Atlantic where the climate is mild and the pre¬ 
cipitation abundant, winter wheat prevails. In the drier interior 
countries that have summer rains, spring wheat is grown. The 
great spring wheat belt of the Eastern Hemisphere begins in Rou- 
mania and stretches through Southern Russia, northeastward 
across the basin of the Volga to the Ural mountains, and beyond 
them across. Siberia to the rough mountainous country east of 
Lake Baikal. Southeastern Russia, north of the Caucasus and 
East of the Caspian Sea, again, has a winter wheat belt. 

The winter wheat varieties of western Europe and of east¬ 
ern United States and California are starchy and soft. The spring 
wheat of central North America, especially the Durum and Bed 
Fyfe, is so hard and brittle that the outer layers of the kernel 
break into little particles, so that for many years, and until steel 
roller milling was perfected, the flour had a mixture of brown 
bran particles and was therefore yellowish in color. This flour 
was not popular, on account of the preference of the ignorant 
consumer for snow white, or bleached flours. Few people realize 
that at present wheat flour is extensively bleached simply for the 
purpose of making more attractive and salable articles, regardless 
of its lessened nutritive value. By bleaching, a greater percentage 
of the flour produced can be rated as being of first quality, which 
means, naturally, superfine, or “snowwhite.” Ozone and oxides 
of nitrogen developed by electrical discharges are the principal 
bleaching agents employed. Bleached flours should be labeled as 
such. ■ .*;T3g 

Winter wheats are poorer in gluten and richer in starch than 
spring wheats, which often show gluten contents of 16 per cent, 
and are, therefore, valued in the manufacture of macaroni and 
semolina. There is also a difference in the chemical composition 
of mineral matter of winter and spring wheat. A large number 
of analyses have been made by Dr. E. Wolff, a German chemist. 


303 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

The average percentages of winter and spring wheat are given in 
the following table: 



Winter Wheat 

Spring Wheat 

Potash 

31.16 

per 

cent 

30.51 

per 

cent. 

Soda 

3.07 

< < 

< < 

1.74 

< < 

< i 

Lime 

3.25 

L < 

< < 

2.82 

< < 

< < 

Magnesia 

12.06 

( < 

< < 

11.96 

< < 

< < 

Iron 

1.28 

l l 

< i 

0.51 

< t 

< < 

Phosphoric Acid 

47.22 

Ci 

(i 

48.94 

11 

< ( 

Silica 

1.96 

( < 

11 

1.46 

i i 

(( 

Sulphuric Acid 

0.39 

i l 

i < 

1.32 

i < 

i ( 

Chlorine 

0.32 

( l 

< t 

0.47 

i i 

(i 


The mineral matter of both varieties is almost entirely com¬ 
posed of phosphate of potash and phosphate of magnesia with 
very small proportions of soda, chlorine, and lime. It always 
shows a decidedly acid reaction. 

About seventy per cent of the phosphates and iron are contained 
in the outer layers and germ of the kernel; and in these parts are 
also found the vitamins. The following diagrams, very much en¬ 
larged, show the cellular construction of a wheat kernel, which 
is typical for all cereals: 



(Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture) 


“A” is the bran coat, rich in silica, lime and iron; “b” is com¬ 
posed of several protective layers, containing a ceraline substance, 
most of the phosphates and other organic salts; “c” is the germ; 
“d” the white interior, consists chiefly of starch grains mixed 
with gluten (see illustration in Chapter 8); “e” and “f” con- 

































304 


RATIONAL DIET 


tain the gluten cells, fat and organic salts, deposited by nature as 
food material for the first stages of germination. 

By modern milling processes the important blood and bone 
building elements, calcium, magnesium, iron, silicon, and fluorine, 
are largely removed, as shown in the following table: 



Total 

Salts 

Potassium 

(K 2 0) 

2 

go 

q eS 

MS' 

Calcium 

(CaO) 

Magnesium 

(MgO) 

w 

2 o 
o 8 

Phosphorus 

(P 2 Os) 

Sulphur 

(SOa) 

Silicon 

(Si0 2 ) 

Chlorine 

(Cl) 

Whole Wheat. 

23.10 

7.20 

0.50 

0.75 

2.80 

0.30 

10.90 

0.09 

0.46 

0.07 

White Flour. 

5.70 

1.82 

0.08 

0.43 

0.44 

0.03 

2.80 




Rye, whole grain.... 

21.30 

6.84 

0.31 

0.61 

2.39 

0.25 

10.16 

0.28 

0.30 

o.oi 

Barley, whole grain. 

31.30 

5.10 

1.28 

0.02 

3.92 

0.53 

10.27 

0.93 

8.98 


Oats, whole grain... 

34.50 

6.18 

0.59 

1.24 

2.45 

0.41 

8.83 

0.62 

13.52 

0.03 

Corn, whole grain... 

18.50 

5.50 

0.02 

0.04 

2.87 

0.15 

8.44 

0.15 

0.39 

0.35 

Corn, degerminated. 

6.85 

2.07 

0.24 

0.43 

1.02 

0.10 

3.08 




Whole Rice. 

16.00 

3.60 

0.67 

0.59 

1.78 

0.22 

8.60 

0.08 

6.42 

0.02 

Rice, polished. 

4.00 

0.87 

0.22 

0.13 

0.45 

0.05 

2.15 

0.03 

0.11 

0.01 


The supposed benefit derived from gluten flour, often recom¬ 
mended in cases of diabetes, is a delusion, as in the manufactur¬ 
ing process nearly all the alkaline elements are washed out, leav¬ 
ing a product that is detrimental rather than beneficial. Dia¬ 
betes indicates high acidity of the blood, which is unable to oxi¬ 
dize the carbohydrates in food and, therefore, requires as a remedy 
a diet rich in alkaline elements. 

Other wheat products, such as macaroni, spaghetti, noodles, 
etc., although rich in gluten, are lacking in organic salts, and 
should be used sparingly and always combined with foods rich 
in these elements. 

Well baked bread or crackers, made from finely ground, entire 
grains, requiring thorough mastication, are by all means preferable 
to the many artificial bakery products and widely advertised 
breakfast foods. 

Recently a process has been developed in Europe, by which 
bread can be made directly from wheat. The method, which is 
termed the Pointe Navarre system, was perfected by a French 
engineer named Navarre. This system consists of three stages of 
operation. The first of these is washing the wheat with quantities 
of running water, thus freeing the grain from dust and other 
impurities much more thoroughly than by the dry cleansing com- 
































305 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

monly employed by the mills. After washing, the wheat is soaked 
in pure warm water of 95 degrees P. in which one per cent of 
sea salt has been dissolved. This process continues for fifteen to 
twenty hours, according to the hardness of the grain. At the end 
of this time the latter has absorbed an amount of water equal to 
two thirds of its original weight. 

The grain is now ready for the third stage of operation which 
consists in passing it through an apparatus devised by Navarre. 
The machine is operated on a principle similar to that of the 
mechanical colanders or pulpers employed by modern canning com¬ 
panies in making preserves or jams, in order to separate the pulp of 
the fruit from the skin, tips and seeds. The apparatus consists of a 
horizontal separator, pierced with small holes like an ordinary 
kitchen colander and lined inside with fine meshed wire cloth. 
Inside this are revolving cylinders alternating with movable strips 
of iron. The humidified grain is fed into the machine by a funnel at 
one side and is pressed between the sieve and the cylinders and thus 
crushed against the wire cloth. The pulp thus produced passes 
through the drum and is scraped off by a stationary knife, falling 
into a vessel beneath the mechanism while the bran, which is 
carried forward by the cylinders and the strips of iron, drops into 
another receptacle. The pulp or paste is then worked into a dough 
in the usual manner. The bran is made into cakes for fodder, 
while still damp, or dried in an oven and employed in the same 
manner as bran obtained from the milling of grain. It seems that 
by soaking the wheat for twenty-four hours most of the organic 
salts and vitamins pass into the dough, so that little nutritive 
value is left in the bran. 

It is stated that the bread produced from this material is of 
excellent flavor, while a saving of about 20 per cent of the grain 
is achieved. By the old methods of milling, 100 pounds of wheat 
yield only 70 pounds of flour, from which 94 pounds of bread are 
produced, while by the Pointe Navarre process 100 pounds of 
wheat produce from 110 to 120 pounds of bread. Moreover, the 
bread produced by this process is far more nourishing and likewise 
more easily digested than bread made from white flour. There is no 
doubt that an excellent unleavened bread can also be made from the 
wheat paste, especially with the addition of some nut butter or 


306 


RATIONAL DIET 


vegetable oil. This process certainly has many advantages over the 
usual methods of bread-making. 

RYE 

Rye (secale cereale), contains considerably less gluten than 
wheat but is richer in silicon and fluorine, which are important in 
the formation of the enamel of the teeth. For this reason in all 
countries where chiefly whole rye bread is eaten, dentists are con¬ 
spicuous by their absence. Rye is a product of the northern temper¬ 
ate zone and will thrive in many soils and climates where wheat will 
not grow so well. It will endure cold winters, wet, sandy and poor 
soils, and will even thrive in rough and hilly countries. 

Rye is only grown to a small extent in the United States. The 
chief rye producing districts are eastern New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Germany, Austria 
and Russia are grown the chief breadstuffs of the poorer classes, 
Russia producing more than half of the world’s rye crop, while 
Germany produces more than one-fourth. 

An excellent health bread can be made by mixing equal parts 
of whole wheat and rye flour. The so-called Swedish “Ry-Krisp” 
is a most palatable and wholesome cereal product which has be¬ 
come quite popular in the United States. 

BARLEY 

Barley (hordeum vulgare) is the hardiest of the cereals. It can 
be grown in semi-arid, sub-tropical countries, as well as in far 
northern countries. Like rye, it has less gluten than wheat, and 
is therefore not so well suited for bread-making. It has a short 
growing season and is especially adapted to the Antarctic summers. 
Barley does well even in northern Scandinavia and in Lapland, 
ripening there at 70 degrees latitude, beyond the Arctic circle. On 
the other hand, it is grown as far south as Egypt and Abyssinia, 
and was one of the staple foods of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, 
and Romans. It constitutes an important crop in Spain and 
Algeria. In Germany and Britain it is almost equal in importance 
to wheat. 

California, with annual crops of forty million bushels, is the 
leading barley territory in the United States. Barley is also grown 
on the high plateaus of the Rocky Mountains. It is cultivated to 


307 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

a large extent in the Dakotas, Minnesota and eastern Wisconsin, 
where it is mostly used for making “near-beer” by Milwaukee 
breweries. The average yield of barley in the United States is 26 
bushels per acre, exceeding that of both wheat and rye. 

While a great deal of barley is used for stock feed, it is 
extensively used as a human food, mostly in the shape of pearled 
barley, which is another demineralized food. A wholesome flour 
may be made from the plain hulled barley and used for baking 
purposes in combination with whole wheat and rye flour. Coarse 
ground unpearled barley meal is largely used as “porridge” in 
Scotland. 

OATS 

Oats (avena sativa) is the cereal richest in fat and organic salts, 
while the gluten content is about equal to that of rye and barley. 
Like the latter, it requires a shorter growing season, and for that 
reason can be grown further north than spring wheat. 

The oat grain has a thick, close fitting husk, which has to be 
removed by special machinery, if the grain is utilized for human 
food. Oat meal and flaked oats are the chief manufactured prod¬ 
ucts, and as they contain the larger portion of the mineral salts, 
they are the least objectionable of all cereal foods sold in the 
markets. The United States and Russia are the largest producers 
of oats, while Germany takes third place. As a food, it is best 
adapted to the inhabitants of cool countries, just as rice is a 
suitable food for the tropical and sub-tropical regions. 

BUCKWHEAT 

Buckwheat (fagopyrum escnlentum) is the least important of 
the cereals, and is cultivated only in the eastern portions of the 
United States and northwest Europe. It is also grown in the moun¬ 
tainous districts of Japan, where it displaces rice. It is a summer 
cereal and can thrive on poorer and rougher land than wheat. It is 
generally placed upon the market for making the well-known buck¬ 
wheat cakes. There is probably no bread or cake-making material 
that is subjected to more extensive adulteration than buckwheat 
flour, most of that which is sold under the name being merely imita¬ 
tions of that substance. Mixtures of rye flour, Indian corn flour, 
wheat flour, and other ground cereals are used as a substitute for 
buckwheat. From a hygienic point of view there is no objection 


308 


RATIONAL DIET 


to the flours substituted, but the use of these mixtures under the 
name of buckwheat can be regarded in no other light than as an 
unpardonable fraud. 

CORN 

Corn, maize or Indian corn (zea mays), constitutes the leading 
cereal crop of the United States today. It is a native of the 
American continent, and was extensively used by the Indians when 
the first American settlers landed at Plymouth Rock. Corn shows 
less protein than wdieat, but nearly equals oats in the amount of fat, 
which is mostly contained in the germ. 

Corn requires a long and moist summer and will fully mature, 
if the weather conditions are favorable. The annual yield depends 
much upon the rainfall and irrigation, and varies from 30 to 38 
bushels per acre. 

The United States produces about three-quarters of the world’s 
corn crop. The leading corn growing states, composing the so- 
called corn belt, are Illinois and Iowa, with over eleven million 
acres each; Kansas and Nebraska, with over nine million acres 
each; and Missouri with over seven million acres. Next to cotton, 
corn is the most important crop of the Gulf States. It is also grown 
to a lesser extent in the Atlantic Coast States, as far north as New 
York. 

A very small percentage of the corn grown in the Mississippi 
Valley goes directly to the market as grain. In all of the Central 
States by far the larger portion of the corn crop is fed to farm 
animals; and it is often preserved for this purpose in silos, while 
in Illinois nearly half of the corn crop is shipped out of the state. 
Over fifty million bushels of corn are shipped to mills for the 
manufacture of corn starch and corn starch syrup, known as the 
glucose of commerce, and used extensively in the manufacture of 
candies, as well as in the preservation of food products. Under 
special names glucose is also used as a table syrup. It is made 
by means of diluted acids from corn starch, and, needless to say, 
its use cannot be recommended as it is a denatured and demineral¬ 
ized product. The annual consumption of glucose in the United 
States is over 500,000,000 pounds, chiefly manufactured in Illinois 
and Iowa. 

An oil is pressed from the germ of the corn, known as corn oil 
or maize oil, and is refined under high steam pressure to remove 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


309 


the raw, disagreeable taste. This oil is, therefore, not as wholesome 
as the cold pressed peanut or olive oil. 

From one to two hundred million bushels of corn are annually 
shipped from the American corn belt to northwestern Europe, 
where they are used for stock feed. Although during the World 
War efforts were made to introduce corn in various forms as human 
staple food, the consumption in Europe is still very small. It is 
an unimportant crop in southeastern Europe, in the countries 
bordering on the Black Sea, but is raised only for home consump¬ 
tion, chiefly for cattle feed. 

Corn is the leading cereal in nearly all the Latin American 
countries, from Mexico down to Argentina. Tortillas, the corn 
cakes of the Mexican, combined with frijoles and a few vegetables 
constitute the principal diet of the poorer classes throughout Mexico 
and Central America. The Mexican always uses the whole corn, 
whereas the corn meal sold in the U. S. is, as a rule, degerminated 
and devitalized. The same deficiencies exist in the polenta of 
the Italians. The hookworm disease of the Southern States and 
pelagra in Europe are the result of a diet consisting largely of 
such impoverished corn, deficient in lime, magnesia, iron and silicon, 
and are not caused by a specific germ. Corn flour, if made from the 
entire corn, is a wholesome food, and in combination with alkaline 
vegetables makes a well-balanced meal. During the summer season, 
when the corn is young, and the carbohydrates in soluble form, it 
may be eaten without further preparation. 

Hominy, which is corn thoroughly boiled after the outer layer 
has been removed by means of a weak lye solution, is a demineral¬ 
ized food. 

Popcorn, made by breaking open the cells of a special kind 
of corn and dextrinizing the starch over a slow fire, is preferable to 
many artificial corn preparations. 


MILLET 


Millet, or grain sorghum (sorghum vulgare), produces small, 
round seeds, resembling corn in chemical composition. They con¬ 
tain on an average: 


Water 

Protein 

Fat 


11.0 per cent Carbohydrates 72.5 per cent 

9.0 “ “ Crude fiber 2.0 “ “ 

3.5 “ “ Mineral matter 2.0 “ 


310 


RATIONAL DIET 


The grain sorghums comprise three varieties: the Durras, in¬ 
cluding Dwarf and White milo ; the Kafirs, and the Kaolings. Many 
varieties of these corn substitutes have been grown for ages in 
the Eastern Hemisphere. Some varieties have been selected to 
produce grain for both men and animals, while others have been 
specialized to produce stalks for feeding animals only. 

Millet is grown mostly for forage in the Mediterranean region 
and western Russia, but is also used there to a small extent for 
human consumption. As a cereal staple food for man, it is of 
greatest importance in eastern Russia and China. 

It is estimated that one-third of the human race includes the 
small millet in its daily diet, and records in China show that millet 
has been cultivated for over five thousand years. In India the 
consumption of millet is greater than that of wheat; it often sup¬ 
plements rice in Japan, while it is grown for forage only in nearly 
all parts of the United States. 

The first introduction of grain sorghums into the United States 
occurred in 1874 when they were brought from Egypt to California, 
where they do well, as they can withstand more drought than most 
other field crops grown. Dwarf millet is the best variety for 
grain, while for forage purposes the Kafir, because of its juicy 
stems, is preferable. In the Imperial Valley, in Southern Cali¬ 
fornia, 150,000 acres of milo maize were cultivated in 1918. 

The grains of the sorghum more nearly resemble buckwheat 
flour in flavor than either corn or wheat. If the grains are used 
unpolished, they are wholesome and nutritious, and their flavor 
is usually regarded as agreeable. They have served as a staple food 
in southern Egypt for many centuries. The average yield of grains 
per acre in the United States is nearly one ton. 

Sweet Sorghum is now used extensively for making sorghum 
syrup, which is more wholesome than corn starch syrup, especially 
if it is concentrated at a low temperature in vacuum pans. One 
acre of sorghum will yield about twelve tons of stripped cane, which 
will make 132 gallons of syrup that can be used as a substitute for 
sugar in baking and canning. 

RICE 

Rice (oryza sativa) is the most important and most productive 
food cereal in the Orient, where it has been cultivated since time 
immemorial, and where still 97 per cent of the world’s rice crop 


311 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

is produced. According to historians, a ceremonial ordinance was 
established in China by the Emperor Chinung, 2,800 B. C., in ac¬ 
cordance with which the emperor sowed rice himself while the seeds 
of four other cereals might be sowed by the princes of his family. 
In some parts of the Orient, where it is grown in large quantities, 
rice was, and is still, a medium of exchange. Moreover, necessity 
has taught the people in these densely populated countries to use 
every part of the rice plant. Rice straw is used in China and 
Japan for making paper, matting, sandals, brooms, hats, and many 
other useful articles. 

Rice was not known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It 
was introduced into Europe by the Arabs in the fifteenth century. 
It was first cultivated in the Valley of the Po, near Pisa, while in 
America cultivation was begun in Colonial days. It has now 
achieved commercial importance in the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisi¬ 
ana, Texas, Arkansas and the Sacramento Valley in California. 
The emigration of East Indian laborers has introduced rice growing 
in Jamaica, Trinidad, Honduras and Guiana. 

Rice is distinctly a cereal of tropical and sub-tropical coun¬ 
tries with their wet summers, or of places having plenty of water 
for irrigation, as in the valleys of the Sacramento in California, 
and the Po, in northern Italy. The countries, however, with fre¬ 
quent warm summer rains are the principal rice growing territories 
of the world. Southeastern China has probably the largest rice 
growing districts, followed by the lower Ganges Valley and its ad¬ 
joining territory, with its wide stretches of alluvial soil and nearly 
one hundred inches of summer rains. Other rice areas of south¬ 
eastern Asia are the deltas of the Irawadi in Burmah, the Menam 
in Siam, and the Mekong in Cochin-China. The cities of Bangkok, 
Rangoon and Saigon are the greatest rice ports of the world, where 
in the mills of English, French, and Chinese firms the paddy, or 
rough grain, is cleaned in the wasteful manner demanded by 
European and American consumers. Japan has more than half 
of all her arable lands laid out in rice fields, with a per capita 
consumption of 170 pounds annually. Japan has lately been im¬ 
porting rice from California. 

The varieties of rice grown in the United States are the Carolina 
Gold and White, best adapted to the Atlantic coast; the Honduras, 
and several Japanese types of rice, to the Gulf States; and the 


312 


RATIONAL DIET 


Japanese types only, to California. The Japanese varieties with 
their short round kernels are preferred because they can be milled 
at less cost. 

California has the most remarkable rice growing area in the 
United States. The acreage in the Sacramento Valley has now 
increased to over 80,000 acres, with an astonishing yield of seventy 
bushels per acre, as compared with 36 bushels per acre in Louisiana. 

In harvesting the rice, it is first threshed to separate the straw 
from the paddy, which must be milled before it can be used as a 
food. The paddy consists of a tough fibrous hull and a bran coat, 
inside of which are the germ and the main part of the grain, known 
as the “ endosperm. ’ ’ The primitive manner of milling rice was to 
pound it by hand in a stone or wooden mortar with a pestle until 
the husk and cuticle cracked, rubbed off and could be winnowed out. 
Machinery has now for the most part displaced the old hand way 
of cleaning, but in this country still more elaborate methods are 
used. The rough rice is first screened and fanned to remove par¬ 
ticles of dust, straw and other foreign matter, and then passed be¬ 
tween milling stones set sufficiently close together to break the hulls, 
without crushing the grains. The light chaff is blown out by fans, 
and a device, known as the paddy machine, sorts out the grains that 
were not hulled the first time, so that they can be transferred to 
another set of stones adjusted to hull the smaller grains. 

This first milling produces the unpolished or brown rice, con¬ 
taining the germ and the outer layers of the kernel, which is now 
in the very best state to be used as food. But in order to satisfy the 
perverted taste of a people that commercialism has educated to 
sacrifice quality for attractiveness, the rice is put through a series 
of machines that scour, polish and in some cases coat it with 
glucose and talc. As in the case of white flour, peeled and polished 
rice has lost its vitamins and the greater portion of the organic salts, 
like lime, magnesia, iron and silica, and its continuous use causes 
beri-beri and similar diseases of the nervous system. 

Pellagra and hookworm diseases, following a corn diet, find 
their counterpart in the beri-beri diseases of the Orient, where 
peeled rice has displaced the natural brown rice as a staple food. 
In all Oriental ports where American and European methods of 
rice milling have devitalized this cereal, nutrition diseases are on 


313 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

the increase. The death rate in Manila due to beri-beri for children 
under one year of age is 430 per 1000. Professor Philip Andrews 
who recently published a number of articles on this subject in the 
“Science Magazine,” found that an autopsy on 219 infants under 
one year old who had been diagnosed by physicians as having died 
from acute meningitis, congenital debility, convulsions, acute bron¬ 
chitis, or enteritis, showed that 126 or 56.6 per cent actually died 
of a condition which Andrews called beri-beri. These infants 
appeared to be well-nourished to the superficial diagnostician, but 
they had symptoms that this authority described as characteristic 
beri-beri, i. e., labored breathing, high pulse rate, etc. 

As children one year old are seldom fed on polished rice, An¬ 
drews accounted for these deplorable conditions by the fact that in 
most cases the mothers reveal symptoms of beri-beri; and that 
their diet is usually white rice and fish, or meat, and rarely vege¬ 
tables or fruit. While polished rice is deficient in vitamin “B”, 
the fundamental cause of beri-beri is mineral starvation, and not 
the lack of protein, as has often been assumed. The remedy is 
natural brown rice with plenty of green leaf vegetables and fresh 
fruits, to supply an abundance of alkaline salts. 

WILD BICE 

In various parts of the North American continent, especially 
the northern Mississippi Valley and southern Canada, a water 
plant generally known as wild rice (zizania aquatica) and often 
as Indian or Canadian rice is frequently found along the edges of 
small lakes and streams. It is not true rice, but belongs to a dif¬ 
ferent botanical group, although it resembles rice in nutritive value. 
At one time this wild rice was one of the staple foods of the Indians, 
ranking next to corn. The grains of wild rice are longer and less 
rounded than those of the true rice, and the husk is dark brown in 
color. The Indian women parch the rice in kettles over an open 
fire, as the heat not only improves the flavor and keeping qualities 
of the grain, but also makes the rough husk easier to remove. Re¬ 
cently, the harvesting of wild rice has been undertaken in a com¬ 
mercial way, especially in northern Minnesota, and machinery is 
being developed to replace the crude Indian method of threshing. 


314 


RATIONAL DIET 


SUGAR CANE 

Sugar cane (sacchnrum officinarum) is a species of grass which 
was probably first cultivated in southeastern Asia, but is now grown 
in large quantities in all tropical countries. Of the Western Hemi¬ 
sphere, the West Indies, Hawaii, and Brazil are now the principal 
sugar cane countries. It is used by the natives in its natural state 
as a staple food. Its sweet acidulous juice, which is released by 
thorough mastication, is very nourishing. Native children are es¬ 
pecially fond of the sweet, ripe cane. Judging from the splendid 
condition of their teeth, and their sleek, well-proportioned bodies, 
the natural juice of the cane must contain the blood and bone build¬ 
ing elements that are lacking in the refined sugar of commerce. 

Sugar cane is propagated by slips taken from the upper part of 
the canes, which are planted at intervals of five feet apart. As 
the joints ripen, the leaves wither and fall away, and the stem 
becomes externally smooth and hard, containing much silica. The 
stalks, or canes of the plant, reach a height of from eight to fifteen 
feet, and attain a diameter of 1% to two inches. The average 
composition of the four most common varieties is as follows*. 


Water 

71.0 

per 

cent 

Protein 

1.0 

< < 

< < 

Sugar 

18.0 

a 

a 

Pectin and 




woody fiber 

9.5 

n 

a 

Mineral matter 

0.5 

a 

a 


As soon as the cane is ripe the stalks are cut close to the ground, 
then removed to the crushing machines, which extract the juice. In 
order to clarify the liquid, bi-sulphate of lime is added, liberating 
sulphurous acid, which coagulates the albumen. The latter grad¬ 
ually settles at the bottom of the vessel, taking along small particles 
of cellulose particles floating in the juice, which is then drawn off 
and boiled down over a direct fire. The scum of the boiling juice 
is collected and distilled into rum, and the remaining condensed 
liquid removed into shallow coolers. The sugary crystals that soon 
form, constitute the museovada or raw sugar, while the remaining 
heavy dark brown liquid is the molasses, in which a large propor¬ 
tion of sulphurous acid is retained. 

From a hygienic point of view, the refining of sugar is a 
wasteful process, as it destroys all the organic salts and vitamins 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


315 


contained in sugar cane. The natives, who prefer to eat the cane 
in its natural state, are very much benefited by its liberal consump¬ 
tion, as mentioned above. The natural juice of the sugar cane, if 
condensed in vacuum pans at a low temperature, is the best known 
method of retaining all its valuable constituents, and in the con¬ 
centrated form it can be shipped easily and used instead of the 
devitalized, refined sugar of commerce. 

Legumes 

Legumes (or pulses) are, next to cereals, the most extensively 
used plant food. They include one-celled, two-valved seed pods, 
containing one or more seeds, such as the bean, pea and lentil. 
The peanut, which also belongs to this class, has been described in 
Chapter III. 

Legumes in their dry state have a very high percentage of pro¬ 
tein—over 20 per cent—resembling in this respect the nuts; from 
1.5 to 16 per cent fat; and from 50 to 60 per cent of carbohydrates, 
mostly starch. The composition of the mineral matter resembles 
that of cereals, showing a large amount of phosphate of potash and 
magnesia. Legumes are, therefore, decidedly acid-forming—in 
fact, in their ripened seeds are stored small amounts of purin bodies. 

Beans and peas are especially valuable, and they may be used 
at different stages of their growth: (1) as tender pods (string beans 
and sugar peas) which can be gathered when the seeds are less 
than half grown—in this form, if eaten with the pods, they have an 
alkaline reaction, as they contain more lime and less phosphoric 
acid; (2) as the nearly grown, but unripened shell beans and green 
peas; (3) as fully ripened seeds—dried beans, peas and lentils; and 
(4), as flours made from the perfectly dried seeds. 

A distinguishing feature of the legumes and a contributing 
factor in the support of plant life is their ability to produce upon 
their roots nodules that contain colonies of nitrogen gathering 
bacteria. These small organisms take up nitrogen freely from the 
air, and thus enable the legumes, upon which they live, to store it 
up, especially in their seeds. By the aid of these bacteria, the 
legumes can grow in poor soil and enrich it with nitrogen, be¬ 
cause of the nodules on the roots which remain in the ground after 
the harvesting of the crop. 

Experiments have demonstrated that in mixed stands of legumes 




316 


RATIONAL DIET 


and other plants the latter are richer in nitrogen because they are 
supplied with that element by coming in contact with legumes. 

Perhaps no single agricultural crop is of greater importance in 
this respect than cow-peas, which are rapidly growing in favor in 
this country as a most valuable forage crop, and a great soil reno¬ 
vator. The seeds are valuable as grain; the hay is equaled only by 
alfalfa, and as a producer of organic matter for green manure, 
it is unsurpassed. 

The Americans, being heavy meat eaters, use far less of the 
legumes than do the inhabitants of Europe, especially those of the 
Mediterranean countries. In China and Japan the soy bean has 
been an important article of diet for many thousands of years. 
With the Bedouins and other Asiatic people the porridge of lentils 
has been in constant use since ancient times. The birthright that 
Esau sold to Jacob for a “mess of pottage” is supposed to have 
been made of lentils. A Hindoo proverb says: “Rice is good, but 
lentils are my life.” The Arabs feed their horses ground beans 
to prepare them for extraordinary exertion. 

BEANS 

Under the general term “bean” (faba vulgaris) we include a 
large variety of closely related plants, such as the lima, pink, the 
bayo, cranberry, Lady Washington and the small white (navy), 
natives of South America; the black eye, garbanzo (chick-pea or 
gram), the horse bean, from the Orient; the white tepary and red 
Mexican, natives of Mexico; the blue pod bean, originated in 
Lompoc Valley, California; and the red kidney bean, first cultivated 
in the Eastern States. 

There are about one million acres devoted to bean culture in 
the United States. Three states—Michigan, California, and New 
York—are leading all others. In 1917, California had planted 
538,000 acres to beans, producing 15,701,000 bushels. 

The garbanzo or chick-pea (cicer arietinum) containing over 
6 per cent fat, is the leading protein food in Spain and northern 
Africa. England exports chick-peas especially for making soup, 
while France, before the war, imported about 35,000 tons from 
northern India. 

As previously mentioned, in eastern Asia the soy bean (dolichos 


317 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 

soya) is one of the chief providers of protein and fat, and is second 
only to rice in importance as a food crop. It contains more than 
four times as much protein as rice, also 16 per cent fat; it is manu¬ 
factured into a great variety of products, all having a high per¬ 
centage of protein. 

Soy beans, when about three-fourths grown, make a most palat¬ 
able and nutritious green vegetable, like the green pea or the lima 
bean. A vegetable milk is made from the dried beans. They are 
finely ground into flour, then thoroughly mixed with three parts of 
water and boiled for half an hour. The milky emulsion obtained 
is similar in appearance to cow’s milk, but naturally of a different 
chemical composition, especially in mineral elements, as it is lacking 
in calcium, sodium and chlorine. This soy bean milk is frequently 
used in making bread, cake, and in creaming vegetables. If left 
in a warm place it will turn sour like animal milk. In Japan a 
condensed milk is obtained by evaporating soy bean milk in a 
vacuum. A cheese is also made there, by adding about one per cent 
of magnesium or calcium salts to the soy bean milk, which precipi¬ 
tates the proteins into a grayish white curd, leaving a yellowish 
liquid. The curd after being thoroughly drained and pressed is 
called “tofu,” which forms the basis of numerous unfermented, 
smoked and dried cheeses in China and Japan. However, these 
bean cheeses, although nutritious, are lacking in the flavor and pala- 
tability of those made from cow’s or goat’s milk. 

Soya sauce is a heavy, dark brown liquid prepared from a mix¬ 
ture of cooked and ground soy beans, roasted and pulverized wheat 
or barley, salt and water. The mixture is inoculated with a culture 
known as rice ferment and left in casks to slowly ferment for six 
months or more. This sauce, which is salty and pungent, not un¬ 
like meat extract, is generally used as a condiment for boiled rice 
or vegetables. The yearly production of soya sauce in Japan alone 
is nearly two million barrels. It takes the place of salt in the Jap¬ 
anese and Chinese diet and is occasionally used by Americans in 
the Pacific Coast States. The fat or oil of the soy bean is of ex¬ 
cellent flavor and is used for culinary purposes throughout the 
Orient. It is more easily digested than animal fats and is equal 
in nutritive value to peanut oil. 


318 


RATIONAL DIET 


PEAS 

Peas (pisum sativum) are natives of Europe, where they were 
cultivated long before the dawn of the Christian era. While they 
are usually grown for their seed, there are several varieties with 
thick soft green edible pods that may be eaten with the seed. Peas 
may be classified as climbing; half dwarf, or showing a tendency to 
climb and doing best when supported; and dwarf peas that re¬ 
quire no support. Peas are among the earliest garden vegeta¬ 
bles and are grown in endless varieties, often as purely ornamental 
plants. They are much more hardy than beans and can withstand 
cold and light frosts. 

Sugar Peas, which are comparatively little known in this coun¬ 
try, are largely grown in Europe. They are characterized by more 
or less fleshy and often distorted or dwarfed pods, which may be 
cooked when in the same state of maturity and in the same man¬ 
ner as string beans. ; j 

THE LENTIL 

The lentil (ervum lens), as previously mentioned, is one of the 
most ancient of food plants, probably one of the first to be brought 
under cultivation by man. It has been used in Egypt and in the 
Mediterranean countries for thousands of years. Until recent 
years, the lentil was little known in the United States, although 
small quantities of it have been imported every year. The red 
lentil comes from Egypt, and the large purplish-green lentils from 
central Europe. There is grown in New Mexico and Arizona, as 
well as in Mexico, a small variety of lentil, the seed of which was 
doubtless brought from Spain centuries ago. 

Lentils, flavored with green leaf vegetables, make excellent 
soups and stews. In addition to phosphate of potash and mag¬ 
nesia, they contain an appreciable amount of sodium, chlorine 
and iron. Lentils are much richer in iron than any other of the 
legumes. 

The preparation of the legumes, especially in their dry state, 
is one of great importance in order to insure their digestion and 
assimilation. They should be cooked in soft or, better still, dis¬ 
tilled water, if available. If the water which is used for cook¬ 
ing is hard, due to the presence of calcium carbonate, one tea¬ 
spoonful of baking-soda per gallon may be added, and then boiled 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


319 


and cooled before using, in order that the calcium carbonate may 
precipitate. It is advisable to soak lentils and beans over night 
in water, in order to soften them. Experiments have demonstrated 
that the digestibility of legumes is facilitated by using distilled 
water in cooking; they can be made still more palatable if served 
in the form of puree by pressing the boiled seeds through a sieve. 
Flours made from dried peas, beans and lentils are excellent for 
making soups and purees, but a double boiler should always be 
employed for this purpose, to prevent scorching. They should 
always be cooked (simmered) very slowly. 

If used moderately and with discrimination, preferably com¬ 
bined with vegetable salads, legumes may be used as a substitute 
for animal food products without the usual disagreeable symptoms 
occurring during the process of digestion. If eaten often and to 
excess, they produce acidity of the blood, on account of their 
large amount of nitrogenous matter and acid-forming elements. 
Outdoor workers can digest legumes better than sedentary work¬ 
ers, who should eat them not oftener than once or twice a week. 

OILY SEEDS 

Flaxseed is the product of the common flax plant (linum usit- 
atissimum) which is indigenous to southern Europe and northern 
Africa, also to some parts of Asia. It is now raised quite ex¬ 
tensively in the United States and Canada. While flax is culti¬ 
vated mostly for the bark and the inner portion of the stem, from 
which linen thread and cloth are made, the oil seeds yield the 
drying fluid called “linseed oil.” Flaxseed is frequently used for 
medical purposes as an emollient and demulcent in irritations of 
the mucous membranes, also as an ingredient of many cereal prepa¬ 
rations to give them a slightly laxative effect. 

Sesame (sesamum indicum) is one of a dozen species of annual 
hairy herbs, indigenous to Africa and India. Since ancient times 
it has been cultivated in eastern Asia and many tropical and sub¬ 
tropical countries. The oil obtained from the seeds, sesame oil, 
resembles olive oil. In the Orient it is mixed with honey and pre¬ 
served citron and sold as a luxury. In some parts of Africa the 
seeds are used for making pudding. The leaves of sesame abound 
in a mucilaginous substance, which readily passes into water, mak¬ 
ing a rich demulcent drink used in the Southern States. Sesame 


320 


RATIONAL DIET 


oil is not produced in the United States and is imported to some 
extent by those who have become accustomed to its use in other 
countries. 

Cottonseed, a product of the cotton-plant (gossypium hirsu- 
tum), is used extensively for the production of cottonseed-oil in 
the United States. Cottonseed-oil is usually hydrogenated. 

Rape-seed, coming from the rape plant (brassica napus), is 
manufactured into rape-oil throughout Europe and eastern Asia. 

Sunflower seeds are derived from the sunflower (helianthus 
annuus) which is grown largely in Hungary, southern Russia, 
India and China, for the purpose of making sunflower oil. 

The seeds of the poppy (papaver somniferum) are also fre¬ 
quently used for the production of table oil. The best grades of 
these oils are obtained from the first pressings without heating and 
are preferable to the refined oils. 

HONEY 

Honey has been used as a food from the earliest times, and con¬ 
stituted one of the principal sweetening materials up to about 
fifty years ago when sugar became a commercial product and was 
more or less available for all classes of people. It is still appre¬ 
ciated by those who prefer a natural sweet to refined sugar, or 
corn syrup. We should bear in mind that honey is manufactured 
by the bees primarily for the purpose of supplying themselves with 
food during the winter months, and man often obtains his sup¬ 
ply by taking from the bees their natural food and substituting 
artificial sweets. A liberal supply of honey should always be left 
for the bees instead of giving them refined sugar, as it is quite 
probable that the frequently recurring bee diseases that have proved 
such a menace to bee keeping, are attributable to the fact that 
a large number of greedy people have forced the busy little work¬ 
ers to depend upon demineralized food. 

Bees perform a valuable service in fertilizing flowers and blos¬ 
soms, and the intelligent orchardist will see to it that he has a 
few hives of bees in or near his orchard, as they will effect a ma¬ 
terial increase in the fruit crop. 

Prior to the passage of the Federal Pure Food Law, in 1906, 
strained honey was frequently adulterated with glucose, or cane 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


321 


syrup, but the practice has since become unsafe and has therefore 
been almost entirely abandoned. 

Honey is a concentrated food and should be used sparingly. 
It contains about 75 per cent of carbohydrates made up of equal 
parts of dextrose and levulose; about 2 per cent sucrose; 18 per 
cent water, and 0.23 per cent of mineral matter. In addition, 
honey contains a small amount of formic acid. 

The flavor of honey is due to volatile bodies in the flowers from 
which it is obtained, such as the blossoms of orange, sage, clover, 
alfalfa, thistle, eucalyptus and many others. Honey is often a 
compound of many different flowers and, therefore, lacks any dis¬ 
tinctive flavor. 

It was formerly assumed that the composition of honey was 
practically the same as that of the nectar gathered by the bees, 
but it has been found that the nectar undergoes certain changes 
in the honey-sac of the bee and that the chemical properties of 
the honey are somewhat different from those of the nectar. Al¬ 
most all pure honey when exposed to light and cold becomes more 
or less granular in consistency. 

Owing to the presence of impurities so generally introduced 
by the bees, much difficulty is found in attempting to set up a suit¬ 
able standard of purity for honey as found in commerce. The 
difficulty is increased by the common practice of artificially feed¬ 
ing bees. 

The nectar of flowers contains from 70 to 80 per cent of water, 
but honey contains only about 20 per cent. The reduction is 
effected partly by the bees exposing the nectar in thin layers to 
the action of a current of air produced by the fanning of their 
wings and partly by a process of regurgitation, the nectar being 
continually thrown out from the honey-sac on the partially doubled 
tongue and then drawn in again until, by the movement of the 
air and the heat of the hive, the nectar is sufficiently concen¬ 
trated to be deposited in the cells of the comb. Another change 
of considerable importance, which takes place while the nectar is in 
the honey-sac of the bee and also probably during evaporation and 
storage in the comb, is the conversion of over 85 per cent of the su¬ 
crose originally present in the nectar through the action of an en¬ 
zyme secreted by the bee. The nectar is further modified by the 
bee by the introduction of a minute quantity of formic acid which 


322 


RATIONAL DIET 


is not present in the original nectar. This acid is supposed to act 
as a preservative and to prevent fermentation. 

In an article describing his experiences in bee keeping, Dallas 
Lore Sharp in Harper’s Magazine of September, 1922, writes in¬ 
terestingly about the transmutation of nectar into honey. 

“All flowers do not yield honey, or any flower indeed. Only 
bees yield honey. Flowers yield sweet water—those that flow for 
the bees—a sweet water which may be ravishingly perfumed 
and tinctured with distillations as of attar and frankincense and 
myrrh, but whose sweet taste is that of cane sugar only. This 
sweet water the bees suck from the flower tubes and carry home 
in their abdominal honey sacs, and on the journey in the body of 
the bee the sweet secretion of the flower, to which has been added 
a minute drop of acid secretion of the bee, undergoes a chemical 
change, resulting in a new compound called honey. 

“As the drop of nectar is sucked from the flower tubes it re¬ 
ceives in passing certain glands at the root of the bee’s tongue an 
infinitely small drop of formic acid, and the change into honey be¬ 
gins. The bee hurries home with her load, but instead of running 
to the empty cell with her sac of sweets, she is met by a home 
worker who, mouth to mouth, drinks from her sister’s sac, emptying 
its contents into her own honey sac and adding her own portion 
of acid, thus doubly charging the nectar, as we charge the fruit 
juice at the fountain with a dash of acid phosphate; and the sweet 
water, which had been sweet with cane sugar, is now, from out of 
this second bee’s abdominal sac, poured into the cell of the comb as 
real honey, sweet with grape sugar, not cane sugar, a different 
product, the joint chemical compound of many blossoms and at 
least of two bees.” 

MAPLE SUGAR AND SYRUP 

Maple sugar and syrup are the products of the condensed sap 
of the sugar maple (acer saccharinum ). The North American In¬ 
dians were probably the first manufacturers of maple syrup. In 
order to obtain the sap, a hole about half an inch in diameter is 
bored in the trunk of the tree to a depth of two or three inches. A 
metal spout is then driven into the tree just below the opening. A 
pail is attached to the spout to collect the sap which contains about 
three to six per cent sugar. The impurities are removed during 
the boiling process. The tapping of the trees begins in February 
and sometimes lasts until the middle of May. 

The manufacture of maple sugar which is made by further 
concentration of the syrup, is mostly carried on in the northeast- 


CEREALS, LEGUMES, ETC. 


323 


ern part of the United States, wherever maple trees are abundant. 
New York and Vermont lead in the production of maple sugar 
and syrup, which totalled nearly thirty-four million pounds in 
1922. The production of maple sugar amounted to over four mil¬ 
lion pounds. In the early history of the American Colonies, honey 
and maple sugar were the chief sweetening substances, and they 
are certainly more wholesome than the refined sugar of the cane 
or beet. 


CHAPTER VI 


Milk and Dairy Products 

Milk, and the many products made from it, were among the last 
articles added to the diet of primitive man, who was forced by 
circumstances to supplement at times his meagre diet with foods 
derived from the living animal. Milk is taken from various ani¬ 
mals, such as cows, camels, mares, goats, sheep, reindeer and even 
the buffalo. After years of careful selective breeding, the cow 
and the goat have become especially adapted to the process of 
milking, and in some instances certain types of these animals, like 
the Holstein cow and the Toggenburg goat, produce at intervals 
enormous quantities of milk, especially during the season when 
plenty of green fodder is available. There are now over twelve 
million milch cows in the United States; Wisconsin, New York, 
Iowa and Minnesota are the leading dairy states, having nearly 
as many milch cows as the rest of the states combined. The large 
extension of the dairy industry in the United States is illustrated 
by the fact that over $1,000,000,000 is spent for milk and butter 
every year; about as much as the expenditure for cereal products. 

Natural history shows that milk is supplied by nature only for 
the nourishment of newly born mammals, and the supply is cut 
off automatically after the period of lactation, which varies for 
different species from one month to about one year. We cannot, 
therefore, say that milk is in any sense a natural food, or is in¬ 
dispensable to the healthy growth and nutrition of the young 
after weaning. The young mammal is absolutely dependent for 
its normal development on its mother’s milk, but the suckling pe¬ 
riod is comparatively short with all species of mammals, and the 
transition period to the food assigned to them by nature according 
to their anatomical structures is very rapid. 

In a natural state the lactiferous glands of mammals are only 
active until the teeth of the young have grown sufficiently to enable 
them to take solid food. The milk glands of the mother would 
naturally dry up again, if the artificial milking of the animal 
were not increased by special breeding. In making milk a product 


324 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


325 


of commerce we interfere with the order of nature, as it is quite 
obvious that this complete food was intended only for the suckling 
of the young, and should not come in contact with the air. There 
are certain electric and magnetic properties in milk that dissipate 
rapidly when exposed, and which cannot be determined by chemi¬ 
cal analysis. Furthermore, milk in every instance contains a cer¬ 
tain amount of solid substances, which includes the nutritive ele¬ 
ments in such proportions as are necessary to build up the tissues, 
bones, and different organs of the new-born animal. Nature pro¬ 
vides in milk the kind of food needed by the young of the different 
species for their growth and development, according to the ana¬ 
tomical structure of their bodies. It is evident, therefore, that the 
chemical composition of milk in the various species of mammals 
must differ as widely as do their anatomical peculiarities. 

There is another distinguishing feature in milk that is seldom 
recognized. Only a small quantity of iron is derived from milk 
during lactation. Nature has provided for this contingency by stor¬ 
ing up a sufficient amount of this important element in a readily 
assimilable form in the liver of the young during pregnancy, to 
protect the growing organism against any deficiency. In milk this 
element is often deficient and not so readily available as the iron 
compound of the liver, which can enter directly into the circulation. 
This important fact has been explained at length in Chapter 
XII and should certainly be given due consideration in feeding 
infants. 

Calcium is another element that varies greatly in the chemi¬ 
cal composition of milk, especially in the case of milch cows. The 
constant removal of phosphate of lime by milking exerts a great 
strain upon the organism of the animal, which often draws a 
supply of this element from her own skeleton. In fact, the loss of 
calcium from the body appears to be a prominent factor in the nu¬ 
tritive depletion and functional derangement of the overtaxed 
milch cow, resulting frequently in tuberculosis. The ability of 
a cow to assimilate calcium is much more definitely limited than 
its ability to assimilate nitrogen. 

While milk produced under ideal conditions is perhaps better 
than many of the artificial and demineralized foods of commerce, 
especially if supplemented with green leaf vegetables and fruits 
to supply organic iron, we are not justified in recommending its 


326 


RATIONAL DIET 


indiscriminate use. For it is far from being indispensable for the 
maintenance of the health and vigor of the race. Milking of ani¬ 
mals is an unnatural process since it lowers their vitality and makes 
them often victims of disease, while it gradually impairs the quality 
of the milk. 

The Japanese are a healthy, virile, and progressive race, yet 
they use hardly any milk. In fact, they are averse to ll. Arti¬ 
ficial milk substitutes for bringing up children are unknown in 
Japan, except perhaps in the coast cities. The densely populated 
area of the country requires intensive agriculture and does not 
permit cattle raising. This is still more significant when we con¬ 
sider the fact that the land necessary for the feeding of a milch 
cow can under intensive cultivation support at least five people, 
if they live directly on the products of the soil. Greece and Rome 
at the time of their ascendancy consumed practically no milk, and 
dairy products were used only in limited quantities. Caesar’s 
legions conquered the world on a diet consisting mostly of wheat 
and dried fruits; and they began to mutiny when meat was substi¬ 
tuted for cereals. 

The tables in the appendix giving the analyses of human milk 
and the milk of various mammals, show the following differences in 
their respective chemical composition: 

Water content varies from 70.00 to 90.00 per cent 


Protein 

Fat 


“ 1.30 to 15.30 44 “ 
4 4 1.20 to 10.50 “ 44 


Milk sugar (highest in human milk) 44 2.00 to 6.25 44 44 


Mineral matter 


44 0.40 to 2.60 44 44 


The highest percentages of protein, fat and mineral matter are 
found in the milk of the rabbit, one of the most rapidly growing 
mammals. There is also, naturally, a great variation in the amount 
of the different organic salts. 

The principal nitrogenous compounds of milk are casein and 
albumin in varying proportions. Human milk contains 1 per cent 
casein, and 1.2 per cent albumin; cow’s milk, 3 per cent and 0.5 
per cent; and goat’s milk 3.2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively. 

When milk is drawn from the cow the casein is in a form called 
“caseinogin,” and is changed by the action of the air into casein. 
The albumin is similar to that contained in blood, and in the whites 

of eggs. Besides, there are traces of other nitrogenous substances 
present. 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


327 


The fat of milk is commercially the most important of its con¬ 
stituents, since it is the source of butter, and enters largely into 
the composition of cheese. Milk fat consists of several different 
kinds of fat, chiefly stearin, palmitin and olein. The total amount 
of fat in cow’s milk should not fall below 3 per cent and does not 
generally exceed 4 per cent. A good average is about 4 per cent, 
or about 30 per cent of the water free contents of milk. 

The carbohydrates of milk exist in the form of lactose or 
milk sugar, which is similar in composition to cane sugar, but not 
nearly so sweet. Its amount ranges from 4 to 6 per cent, but on 
the average is about 5 per cent in cow’s milk. Human milk is the 
richest in sugar. In regard to the percentage of organic salts, 
mare’s milk appears to resemble human milk more than any other. 
Goat’s milk shows the largest amount of iron, while the amount 
of calcium is largest in rabbit’s milk and smallest in human milk, 
which corresponds to the time necessary for the respective animals 
to mature. 

The vitamin contents of milk vary greatly, perhaps more than 
in any other food product. As early as 1914 Casimir Funk, sum¬ 
ming up the findings of various investigators, stated that vita¬ 
mins were not found in milk in constant quantities, that they might 
be almost completely lacking, if the diet of the mother contained 
too small an amount of them. He found that in winter, when 
green fodder is scarce, cows produce a milk which is very deficient 
in vitamins, as compared with summer milk, when the animals are 
on pasture. In 1916 McCollum likewise found that vitamins pass 
into the milk only when they are present in the diet of the mother, 
and that milks may vary in their growth-promoting power accord¬ 
ing to the diets of the lactating animals. It has been shown that 
vitamin “A” in milk and butter always varies with the amount 
of this substance in the ration of the cow. In the summer when 
the pasturage was dried up, vitamin “A” was materially dimin¬ 
ished in milk and butter. Further experiments clearly proved the 1 
relation between the quality of milk and the feed. Two cows, a Jer¬ 
sey and a Holstein, both fresh in December, were fed on a ration 
deficient in vitamins from January until June. They were then 
given the same combination of grains, but had constant access to 
grass. The milk was fed to guinea pigs to test its nutritive value. 


328 


RATIONAL DIET 


Judging from the growth of the animals, the summer milk was 
three times richer in food content and antiscorbutic potency than 
the winter milk. It was but natural that the amount of alkaline 
elements had been likewise increased. Children’s diseases, which 
occur most frequently in the early spring months, are most likely 
caused by milk from cows which have been fed poorly during the 
winter months. 

Mother’s milk, again, shows a great variance in its composition, 
according to the quantity and quality of food taken. The aver¬ 
age composition shows the following proportions in 1000 parts: 


Average normal 
composition: 

In cases of 
faulty nutrition: 

Water 

874.0 

901.1 

Casein 

10.3 

7.3 

Albumin 

12.6 

8.7 

Fat 

37.8 

28.3 

Milk Sugar 

62.1 

52.7 

Mineral matter 

3.1 

1.7 


In Chapter VI, Part I, it has been shown that towards the end 
of the lactation period the percentage of protein in mother’s milk 
gradually diminishes, as the growth of the infant is fastest during 
the early months, when large amounts of casein and albumin are 
required. 

The mammary glands of the nursing mother secrete, between 
the third and sixth month after child birth, from 2 1 / 4 to 3 pints 
of milk per day, the amount gradually increasing up to end of the 
first year, when the child’s teeth are sufficiently developed. Through 
the milk the mother secretes a part of the constituents of the blood 
plasma. If this is rich in phosphates, or in lecithins, the milk 
will also show large amounts of these constituents. Mother’s milk 
is readily affected by the use of alcoholic beverages, strong coffee, 
tea, narcotics, drugs, all of which should be especially avoided 
during pregnancy and lactation. 

The milk of tubercular cows presents, under the microscope, 
agglutinated globules like mucus. The leucocytes are distinguish¬ 
able by their insolubility in ether. Sterilization of mill?:, as a means 
of protecting the child, destroys the soluble ferments and vitamins 
of the milk, and alters the taste and organic composition, while a 
portion of the casein is coagulated. Boiled milk, so often recom¬ 
mended, is therefore less nutritious than raw milk, which is always 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


329 


preferable for infant feeding, provided it comes from a properly 
fed and cared for animal. 

Various formulae intended to replace human milk by modi¬ 
fied cow’s milk have been extolled, but they can never imitate the 
highly organized compounds which nature has evolved during the 
long processes of evolution and which are best adapted for the 
healthy growth of the new-born infant. So-called modified cow’s 
milk may appear to the analytical chemist to be a good imitation 
of human milk, because its proportion of proteids, fats, and sug¬ 
ars are similar, but the fact remains that the discrepancy is very 
great, especially in regard to the quality of the casein and pro¬ 
portion of the organic salts. Indeed, modifying milk for infant 
feeding is one of the greatest and most tragic blunders of so-called 
medical science. 

Likewise the much advertised infant foods can only produce 
injurious results in the course of time. Although they may effect 
an immediate gain of weight and fatten the infant, it is usually 
at the expense of its vitality. 

Cow’s milk is an entirely different chemical composition and 
organic structure from mother’s milk, and is, therefore, very dif¬ 
ferent in its effect on the infant It contains too large a percentage 
of casein and not enough albumin and milk sugar. Furthermore, 
the fat globules of cow’s milk are sometimes so large that, instead 
of passing through the mesh-like lining of the delicate intestinal 
wall of the child and thence into the circulation as nourishment, 
they form a greasy, adhesive coating, and thereby interfere with 
the proper functioning of the mucus membranes. While chil¬ 
dren apparently may thrive on cow’s milk, the tissue formation re¬ 
sulting from such a diet is not normal, the digestive power is over¬ 
taxed and the vitality is reduced. 

Another point cannot be too strongly emphasized here. Milk 
is of value to growth and development only to the extent that it 
can maintain a perfect balance and integrity of its elements. Its 
normal temperature when drawn from the mammary glands is 
97 degrees F. At that moment it is charged with animal magnet¬ 
ism and vital electricity which are quickly dissipated as soon as 
the milk is chilled by refrigeration or heated by pasteurization. 
Furthermore, since milk is often taken from diseased cows, its 
daily use is not recommended unqualifiedly. Its merits are often ex- 


330 RATIONAL DIET 

aggerated by those whose chief interest is the promotion of the 
sale of dairy products. 

The digestion and growth of a calf differ materially from that 
of an infant. The chief characteristic of cow’s milk is its ready 
coagulation into large curds, which are only with difficulty di¬ 
gested by the infant, whereas human milk coagulates into fine 
soft curds containing much less fat, and easily acted upon by the 
gastric juice. At the end of forty-five minutes, following a feed 
of cow’s milk, the stomach contents of a child reveal casein clots 
still undigested; furthermore, the mineral elements or organic 
salts of cow’s milk, chiefly lime, are not properly assimilated by 
the child, fully one-third being lost in the bowel discharges. The 
mineral salts of cow’s milk are more than twice as abundant as in 
human milk and in different organic combination. In contradis¬ 
tinction to the organic salts in human milk, they frequently act 
as an irritant in the human organism, even when artificially re¬ 
duced to the same or lower percentage found in breast milk. 

Some people labor under the delusion that regardless of how 
filthy cow’s milk may be, or how many germs it may contain, pas¬ 
teurization or sterilization renders it a fit food for children. As a 
matter of fact, prolonged boiling does not kill the spores of all 
bacteria, nor are the chemical poisons produced by certain germs 
altered by the temperature of boiling milk. The first noticeable 
effect of using sterilized milk is that the child becomes constipated, 
and for this reason alone it is decidedly objectionable. The 
same objections may be urged against condensed milk, which prob¬ 
ably does more harm than any other infant foods. 

Cow’s milk, if used at all, should come from clean and healthy 
animals that live in the open. It should be handled in scrupulously 
clean vessels and used as soon as possible. As a rule the feeding 
of the cow is far from ideal. There is a tendency to use many 
by-products of breweries, oil factories, and even a product made 
from chemically treated sawdust! 

Alfred McCann in his excellent book, “The Science of Eating,” 
mentions a case where one of the largest meat packing houses of 
New York City was compelled to discontinue the slaughter of 
dairy cows, because of the tremendous losses sustained through 
the excessive number of condemnations resulting from generalized 
tuberculosis. On the killing floor these cows could be milked, dem- 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


331 


onstrating that they had been producing up to the time of slaugh¬ 
ter. The carcasses frequently contained well-developed embryos, 
known to the trade as “bob veal.” 

In one certified herd in New York State, 124 out of 125 cows 
were found to be in a state of malnutrition, clearly indicative of 
the unfitness of their flesh for human consumption. The daily 
food supply of these cows consisted of: ten pounds of beet pulp 
(the exhausted residue of sugar beets) ; two to ten pounds of 
degerminated corn-meal and brewer’s mash (exhausted refuse 
of alcoholic fermentation) ; ten pounds of alfalfa (the only good 
food used). To this mixture was added from one-half to one pint 
of oil meal or gluten feed. Oil meal is the residue of cottonseed 
after the oil is extracted. Gluten feed is the residue in the pro¬ 
duction of glucose from corn. 

Many cattle feeds are impoverished and demineralized although 
they appear in the formulas of certified dairies, because they satis¬ 
fy the modern dietitian’s erroneous idea of scientific calories and 
a balanced ration. Besides, the feeding of cattle with artificially 
manufactured foods is always favored because of its cheapness. 

A new artificial cattle feed has been lately recommended in 
the shape of chemically treated white pine sawdust. If treated 
with dilute sulphuric acid, and cooked under pressure with steam, 
this sawdust undergoes a chemical change and is partially con¬ 
verted into glucose, of which the resultant mixture contains from 
14 to 18 per cent. The mixture is then neutralized by lime, the 
sugar dissolved, and the solution filtered and boiled down under 
pressure to the consistency of molasses. This mixture is then add¬ 
ed to the partially dried sawdust residue, and a product closely 
resembling bran is obtained. It is needless to say that such food 
material will lead to a rapid deterioration in the quality of milk, 
and, by lowering the vital resistance of the animal, make tuber¬ 
culosis a possibility. 

Pasteurization or sterilization, still advocated by some physi¬ 
cians, in order to destroy germs and bacteria, impairs the nutritive 
value of the milk. Dr. E. M. Still, New York, says: 

“It has been my fortune for a number of years to oversee the 
feeding of many hundred babies on pasteurized milk, and after 
numerous and careful experiments, I am forced to believe that in 
the vast majority of cases it produces rickets and scurvy, or 


332 


RATIONAL DIET 


scrofulosis, and kindred diseases, if given continuously; all these 
diseases being cured by the use of raw milk, with no other treat¬ 
ment. Several years ago when there was so much talk of the vir¬ 
tue of pasteurized milk for babies, I examined several hundred 
babies so fed and found that 97 per cent of them showed signs of 
rickets, scurvy and scrofulosis, and it was only after these careful 
observations that the fallacy of heated milk in infant feeding 
was made known to me.” 

Pasteurization of milk so changes its organic ingredients that 
it is no longer fit food for the proper nourishment of an infant. 
That commercially pasteurized milk is more unsafe than ordinary 
milk is abundantly proved by the investigations of Pennington and 
McClintock of Philadelphia and many other investigators. Experi¬ 
ments on the germicidal action of cow’s milk have demonstrated 
that the relative increase of bacteria in milk is more pronounced 
if heated to 75 degrees C. or 100 degrees C. (167 degrees P. to 210 
degrees P.) than in raw milk or milk heated to 56 degrees C. (132 
degrees P.) proving that the heating of milk destroys or greatly 
impairs its germicidal action. 

The disadvantages of cow’s milk can be to some extent avoided 
by the use of goat’s milk, which is far richer, more nutritious and 
more easily digested than cow’s milk. The statement has been 
made that infantile paralysis does not exist where children are fed 
on goat’s milk. While for ages people in all lands have thought 
that healthy goat’s milk is good for well babies and excellent for 
ailing ones, the reasons were not fully understood and appreciated 
until a scientific study of the properties of goat’s milk was made. 

The fat globules of goat’s milk are very small and resemble 
those of mother’s milk, while the casein also forms smaller curds 
that are more easily digested than cow’s milk. Moreover, it is 
known that the goat is the only dairy animal that has proved so far 
to be immune to tuberculosis. Thousands of children could not 
only be saved, but could also be well nourished by goat’s milk, 
instead of cow’s milk, especially where the supply is very liable to 
be contaminated, or is subject to wide variation, even though it may 
be obtained continuously from the same herd. 

A diet of fresh cow’s or goat’s milk is best supplemented by 
small quantities of fresh fruit juice, preferably orange juice. The 
general opinion is that children should not be given fruit until 
the period of infancy is well passed. While this may be true of 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


333 


fruits in general, the giving of strained juices of certain fruits is 
not only very beneficial, but actually essential to the baby when 
deprived of mother’s milk. A teaspoonful of orange juice 
three times each day has been found to be very beneficial, espe¬ 
cially in cases of rickets and other disorders caused by malnu¬ 
trition. In giving fruit juices to infants several points have to be 
observed. The juices must be secured from perfectly ripe fruit, 
and carefully strained; they should be administered about two 
hours after feeding, and half an hour before the next feeding of 
milk. In nearly all cases the infants greatly enjoy this pleasant 
modification of their diet. While it is not necessary to give fruit 
juices to normal breast-fed infants, since healthful mother’s milk 
is free from the deleterious qualities of artificial foods, it will 
be found most advantageous if the mothers themselves partake 
freely of fresh fruit. Fresh fruit juices are the best preventives 
of infantile diarrhoea, because their mild acid and alkaline salts 
are natural disinfectants of the alimentary canal. 

Overfeeding is the most frequent mistake in the rearing of 
infants. Nearly all cases of colic and diarrhoea are due to this 
cause. A large number of infantile diseases can be overcome by 
regulating the hours of feeding. The child is not always hungry 
when it cries, and a few sips of water, especially during the night, 
will often produce good sleep, and give the stomach a needed 
rest. 

■a*. 

Infant mortality remains one of the biggest problems that con¬ 
front society. For years it has been the object of serious con¬ 
cern to governments and municipalities, not only in this country, 
but also in France, Germany and England. In spite of all that 
has been done, however, the total number of deaths among infants 
has not appreciably decreased. About 150 babies out of every 
1000 die under one year from causes that are preventable. During 
the hot weather the rate in congested quarters is probably from 
200 to 400 per thousand births. 

The much dreaded and now frequently recurring infantile 
paralysis is a functional disease of the spinal cord, which, accord¬ 
ing to medical authorities, like any other endemic or epidemic 
disease, is caused by a specific germ. We may safely say, however, 
that indiscriminate feeding is at the root of nearly all children’s 
diseases. Indeed so appalling is the ignorance of the majority of 


334 


RATIONAL DIET 


people in regard to feeding and educating their children, that if 
nature had not endowed the growing organism with wonderful pow¬ 
ers of resistance, the percentage of infantile paralysis, and other 
so-called infantile diseases, would be infinitely greater than it is. 
In almost every instance the death of a child is traceable to paren¬ 
tal ignorance. Though many children survive despite irrational 
feeding, drug medication, vaccinations and serum therapy, they 
are handicapped for the remainder of their lives, since the infant’s 
body loses a large amount of vitality in excreting these inoculated 
poisons. 

While infantile paralysis appears to be epidemic, when we con¬ 
sider the fact that children—especially those reared in cities—are 
all more or less exposed to the same devitalizing influences, such 
as impure and pasteurized milk, as well as faulty nutrition, we 
shall come a step nearer to the origin of the fatal sickness. There 
is no doubt that the fundamental cause of all so-called contagious 
diseases is to be found in an impoverished condition of the blood 
and lowered vital resistance, resulting from the almost universal 
use of emasculated foods, deficient in the essential alkaline ele¬ 
ments. 

It is self-evident that an infant nursed by a mother whose diet 
is limited to devitalized cereals and vegetables, combined with meat, 
coffee or tea, will suffer in its own nutritional processes. The 
quantity of milk becomes insufficient and the quality defective, 
and the nursing period must be shortened for the sake of the poor¬ 
ly nourished mother, much to the detriment of the child. It is 
here that ignorance of the fundamental principles of nutrition 
becomes most fatal and far-reaching in its consequences. 

It is impossible to over-emphasize the fact that the foundation 
of a strong and healthy body and power of resistance, must be 
laid by the mother long before the child is conceived and born, by 
a regulation of diet to insure a sufficiency of vitamins and blood 
and bone building elements, during pregnancy and lactation. 

The changes to which milk can be artificially submitted are nu¬ 
merous. The principal one—skimming—consists in taking the but¬ 
ter fats from the milk either by spontaneous separation, or by 
centrifugal action. 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 335 

The composition of the separated products are given in the fol¬ 
lowing table: 


Normal Milk Skim Milk Cream 


Water 

87.25 

per 

cent 

89.70 

per 

cent 

58.63 

per 

cent 

Fat 

3.50 

< < 

< ( 

0.77 

< < 

< < 

35.99 

< < 

< < 

Protein 

3.90 

< i 

< < 

4.02 

< < 

«< 

2.75 

< < 

a 

Milk sugar 

4.60 

11 

< < 

4.74 

<« 

«< 

3.12 

< < 

<« 

Mineral matter 

0.75 

< < 

< < 

0.77 

< < 

< < 

0.50 

«< 

< < 


Skim Milk as a rule is more easily digested than ordinary 
milk, and sours less readily. Most of the skim milk produced 
in the United States is used for stock feed. It contains about one- 
fifth of the fatty matters of the original milk, but almost the whole 
of the other substances. But skim milk, even with the addition of 
other fattening materials, can never produce the normal growth of 
the calf, as some of the vitamins and other elements are lacking. 

Cream contains, besides fat, vitamins, lecithins and albumin, 
and a large part of substances that remain in suspension in milk, 
drawn along by the rising of the fatty globules. It is rather diffi¬ 
cult to digest and easily sours because of the microbes which it 
collects from the milk. Large quantities of cream are consumed 
by the American people in the form of ice cream, a mixture of 
cream, sugar, gelatine, fruit or flavoring extracts, frozen in cans, 
which are rapidly turned in a mixture of ice and salt. Ice cream 
is certainly not a good mixture from a hygienic point of view, and 
should be eaten with discrimination, or dispensed with altogether. 
Its cooling effect is but of brief duration on account of its large 
fat and sugar content. 

Whey is the clear or opalescent liquid that separates and remains 
when milk is coagulated by exposure to the air, or under the action 
of the special ferment of rennet, which transforms the casein into 
cheese. Whey contains about one per cent of the albumin; also 
some very small quantities of other organic matters (lactic acid, 
lecithins, etc.) and nearly all of the sugar and organic salts of 
milk, except the phosphates, the greater portion of which are carried 
away by the cream, or left in the coagulated casein. Whey is there¬ 
fore more acid-binding than the whole milk. 

Buttermilk is the liquid left by the churning of the cream of 
milk or the milk itself when the butter has been extracted from it, 
but in either case, it has nearly the same chemical composition. 
Buttermilk is richer in albumin than whey. 


336 


RATIONAL DIET 


The following table gives an analysis of both whey and butter¬ 
milk: 



Whey From 
C ow’s Milk 

Whey From 
Goat’s Milk 

Buttermilk 

Water 

93.3 per cent 

93.7 per 

cent 

91.0 

per 

cent 

Albumin 

1.1 “ “ 

0.60“ 

< < 

3.5 

(( 

< < 

Fats 

0.1 “ “ 

0.02“ 

t < 

1.0 

< < 

< < 

Milk, sugar and 
lactic acid 

4.7 “ “ 

5.00“ 

< < 

3.8 

<« 

< < 

Mineral matter 

0.8 “ “ 

0.70“ 

< < 

0.7 

(( 

< < 


Koumiss is the product of alcoholic fermentation of mare ’s milk, 
and has long been used by the Tartars on the steppes of southern 
Russia and Siberia. It takes several days to complete its process of 
fermentation, after which a foaming, emulsioned liquid is obtained, 
of a taste at once acid and sweet, resembling almond milk. It 
contains alcohol in the same degree as light beer—about three per 
cent—and is, therefore, slightly intoxicating. In new koumiss the 
casein is in very thin flakes and dissolves readily if water is added. 

Kephir is another alcoholic and sparkling preparation of milk, 
similar to koumiss. It is made by the inhabitants of the Caucasian 
mountains from the milk of their cows and sheep. The fermenta¬ 
tion of this milk is induced by a specific agent, called kephir, and 
is said to have been handed down by Mahomet. The milk is 
poured into bottles of leather; the kephir powder diluted with luke¬ 
warm water is added, and the mixture stirred from time to time. 
After one or two days the liquid is ready for consumption. It 
contains much less alcohol than koumiss—only about 0.7 per cent. 

Yogurt, another preparation of the Orient, is made of curdled 
milk of cows, goats or sheep, by boiling the milk over an open fire, 
concentrating it to about one-third of its volume. The remaining 
liquid is then poured into bowls, and, after it has sufficiently 
cooled, a little of the yogurt of the previous day’s making is added. 
Four or five hours later a creamy curd is secured, which becomes 
solid and can be turned over without breaking apart. It can be 
kept for four or five days, after which it turns sour rapidly. In the 
East it is generally used in combination with a number of other 
foods. 

Cheese in its numerous varieties is the product of curdled milk, 
more or less skimmed. It is formed mostly by the casein, which 
passes into an insoluble state by the action of rennet, retaining a 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 


337 


part of the lecithins, fats and organic salts. Cheese may be divided 
into fresh and cooked cheese, and in its turn may be fermented, 
salted or non-salted, containing more or less fat according to the 
quality of the milk from which it is made. Goat’s and sheep’s 
milk are also used in manufacturing cheese. The famous Brie 
cheese (fromage de Brie) is made from cow’s milk, submitted to 
rennet at 95 degrees F.; Mont-Dore from goat’s milk, and Roquefort 
from a mixture of the very fat milk of the sheep and goat, heavily 
salted. Fresh, unfermented cheeses are made from cow’s milk. The 
best known are the Savoy, Swiss or Neufchatel varieties, which are 
the richest in fats. 

In the process of ripening cheese, a portion of the casein is 
peptonized, while at the same time some odoriferous substances 
are formed, which give to each variety of cheese its peculiar aroma 
and flavor. These vary according to the nature of the micro¬ 
organisms, which slowly bring about the ripening of the curd. 

All cheeses are concentrated foods, rich in casein, fat, lime, 
phosphoric and sulphuric acids, besides containing from 3 to 4 per 
cent of table salt. They are, therefore, highly acid-forming foods, 
and if used at all, should be eaten in small quantities combined 
with fruit or vegetables. So-called cottage cheese, made from 
whole milk, unsalted, is the most wholesome form of cheese. Analy¬ 
ses of three kinds of cheese is herewith given. 


Cottage Cheese Swiss Cheese Parmesan Cheese 


Water 

72.00 

per 

cent 

38.00 

per 

cent 

31.80 

per 

cent 

Casein and 

albumin 

20.90 

i < 

< c 

25.35 

< i 

< < 

38.60 

( « 

< i 

Lactose and 

lactic acid 

1.00 

< i 

( l 

1.40 

t ( 

< < 

2.00 


< < 

Fat 

4.30 

(i 

< < 

30.25 

t ( 

c < 

21.30 

< c 

< < 


Mineral matter, 
including table 
salt in Swiss 
and Parmesan 

cheese 1.80 “ “ 5.00 “ “ 6.30 “ " 

The American people spend about 50 million dollars, annually, 
for cheese, of which over 5 million pounds are imported. The 
leading cheese producing countries of the world are Canada and 


338 


RATIONAL DIET 


Holland, with an annual export of nearly 150 million pounds each; 
Switzerland, Italy and New Zealand each export at least 70 million 
pounds annually. Denmark, which exports 200 million pounds of 
butter annually, leads all other countries in this respect. 

The World War has given the dairy industry of the U. S. a 
great impetus, as imports were practically cut off for several 
years, and consequently many of the European types of cheese are 
now manufactured here. 


EGOS 

Eggs constitute another large item in man’s food supply. The 
American people pay about 500 million dollars for various kinds 
of eggs every year. The annual consumption of hen’s eggs—the 
kind most commonly used—amounts to about 16 dozen per capita. 
In addition, eggs of the guinea fowl, turkey, duck and goose are 
frequently used, while in South Africa ostrich eggs are considered 
as being of excellent quality for culinary purposes. The demand 
for eggs of wild birds has decreased in proportion to the domesti¬ 
cation of barnyard fowls. Turtle eggs also occasionally adorn the 
American bill of fare. 

Like the seeds of cereals and legumes, each fertile egg contains 
a germ, or embryo. This embryo is a storehouse of material for the 
growth of the young bird until it has reached such a stage in its 
development that life outside the confinement of the shell becomes 
possible. The embryo is in close relationship with the yolk, which 
furnishes the material for its early development, the white being 
used later. The yolk and white of the egg must naturally differ in 
chemical composition, according to the purpose subserved. The 
analyses of the different parts of the domestic hen’s egg given below 
is typical for all other varieties of eggs: 



Whole egg 

White of 





WITHOUT SHELL 

egg 


Yolk 


Water 

73.70 per cent 

85.75 per 

cent 

50.80 

per 

cent 

Protein 

12.55 “ “ 

12.70 “ 

< < 

16.20 

< < 

< < 

Pat 

12.10 “ 

0.25 “ 

< i 

31.95 

< < 

< < 

Carbohydrates 

0.55 “ “ 

0.70 “ 

< < 

0.10 

< i 

<« 

Mineral matter 

1.10 “ “ 

0.60 “ 

«< 

1.10 

< < 

t < 


DAIRY PRODUCTS 339 

Composition of mineral matter in 1000 parts of water free substance. 


Whole eg a White Yolk 


Potash 

6.27 

per 

cent 

13.21 

per 

cent 

2.70 

per 

cent 

Soda 

9.56 

«< 

< < 

13.30 

< < 

C ( 

1.44 

< < 

< < 

Lime 

4.56 

< < 

< i 

1.18 

< < 

(( 

3.17 

< < 

< < 

Magnesia 

0.46 

< < 

< < 

1.18 

< < 

l ( 

0.51 

< i 

< < 

Iron 

0.17 

< c 

< < 

0.25 

< < 

< ( 

0.40 

< < 

< < 

Phosphorus 

15.72 

< < 

< < 

1.85 

< < 

< ( 

15.22 

< < 

11 

Sulphur 

0.13 

(( 

(i 

0.88 

(i 

i ( 




Silica 

0.13 

(( 

< < 

0.45 

< < 

(< 

0.21 

< < 

< i 

Chlorine 

3.72 

(( 

< < 

12.08 

< < 

(( 

0.45 

<« 

i i 


These figures show that eggs, containing as they do an excess 
of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, are a highly acid-forming food. 
For this reason eggs should be used in moderation, if used at all, 
and always combined with vegetables or fruits which are strongly 
alkaline, preferably salads made of green leaf vegetables. 

The shells of hens’ eggs, which are porous, are made up very 
largely of mineral matter, containing 93.7 per cent calcium car¬ 
bonate, 1.3 per cent magnesium carbonate, 0.8 per cent calcium 
phosphate, and 4.2 per cent organic matter. The egg shells of other 
birds are of similar composition. 

The albumen, or white of the egg, is essentially formed of oval¬ 
bumin, mixed with small amounts of ovoglobulin and fibrinogen. 
These three substances, mixed with water, are contained in little 
cells formed by the small membranes that divide and enclose the 
albumen. In boiling or frying the egg, the albumen begins to 
coagulate at a temperature of 160 degrees F. becoming white, 
opaque, and insoluble in water. One of the constituents of egg 
albumen is sulphur, and the egg albumen is readily decomposed by 
the liberation of hydrogen. The bad odor of decayed eggs is due to 
sulphuretted hydrogen. A large quantity of spoiled eggs is still 
surreptitiously used for baking purposes, despite the pure food law. 

Egg yolk is made up of the following substances: about 30 per 
cent of fat in the form of palmitin, stearin, olein and lecithin, one 
of its highly important constituents; and 16 per cent of protein, 
mostly in the form of vitellin and albumin. The mineral matter is 
largely composed of phosphoric acid, calcium, magnesium and iron. 

Eggs are occasionally eaten raw, or beaten with vegetable 
juices, but as a rule they are cooked and served in various ways, 






340 


RATIONAL DIET 


each being merely a more or less elaborate modification of a few 
simple methods. Hard boiled eggs are more difficult to digest than 
soft boiled, unless they are very thoroughly masticated. 

Coincident with the extension of poultry farming, the pres¬ 
ervation of eggs has become a matter of importance. Among the 
various methods used with more or less success for the purpose of 
closing the pores are: burying the eggs in oats, bran or salt; dip¬ 
ping them in melted paraffin; covering them with a varnish or 
shellac; or immersing them in lime water or in a solution of water 
glass (silicate). The latter method is considered the most suc¬ 
cessful. The solution is prepared by dissolving one part of silicate 
with 10 parts, by measure, of pure water. The commercial preser¬ 
vation of eggs by means of cold storage is an industry which has 
developed greatly in recent years. 

Preserving eggs by drying them is a common and often very 
satisfactory method. In China, where the poultry industry is of 
large proportions, millions of dozens of eggs are annually converted 
into dried form, dried yolks, and dried albumen (white of egg). 
By this method 100 dozen eggs may be reduced to a weight of 26 
pounds. 

Considering the fact that thirty-two eggs are required to make 
one pound of water-free food material, the nutritive value of the 
eggs is not as great as is generally supposed. 


CHAPTER VII 

Flesh Foods 

In one of the preceding chapters it has been shown that meat 
eating is one of man’s dietetic habits acquired comparatively late 
in the evolution of the human race. It appears that this deviation 
from natural diet was by no means voluntary, but caused by extreme 
want and necessity. It was either a question of eating what could 
be found near at hand, or perishing. During the thousands of 
years subsequent to great geological changes, the meat-eating habit 
established itself more or less firmly, except among those whose 
religious teachings proscribed the use of flesh foods and the 
slaughter of animals. 

Many persons believe that one of the contributing factors to the 
superiority of the Caucasian race has been the large consumption 
of flesh foods. This, however, is merely a coincidence. The inhabi¬ 
tants of the temperate zones had a more severe struggle for exis¬ 
tence than those living in tropical climates, and consequently de¬ 
veloped their mental and physical qualities to a higher degree. 
Caucasians are foremost among the races of the world not because 
they are more or less meat eaters, but because during thousands of 
years they have possessed the advantage of a cold, yet salubrious 
and invigorating climate, in which they could develop their prowess 
and skill by constantly coping with the adversities of nature. While 
food has played an important part in the evolution of man, there 
can be little doubt but that the most potent factor in the great in¬ 
crease of his cranial development and thought force has been the 
severe struggle for existence. It is apparent that in the course of 
evolution man gained ascendency, not so much by his physical 
strength, but by the development of his higher mental faculties, 
which enabled him to successfully cope with the adversities of 
nature. The growth of man’s spiritual forces will finally lead him 
out of the age of barbarism in which he is still living. 

Perhaps no word in the English language has suffered from so 
many false interpretations as “vegetarianism.” This is due mainly 
to a confusion of the w r ords, “vegetarian” and “vegetables.” To 


341 


342 


RATIONAL DIET 


the average man a “vegetarian’’ signifies a vegetable eater—one 
who lives on vegetables exclusively. The word vegetarian is de¬ 
rived from the Latin word, “vegetus,” which means strong and 
vigorous. Again, many who criticize vegetarianism, frequently 
point to the teeming millions of eastern Asia as examples of those 
that abstain more or less from the eating of flesh food, and are 
dominated by the European nations. These people are the victims 
of unfavorable social and economic conditions, and the majority 
of them lead an almost hopeless life of slavery. That the meat 
eaters have conquered the world is so generally believed as to have 
become an aphorism. The Anglo-Saxon race without question has 
been successful in bringing under subjection innocent people whose 
religion, for the most part, forbids the shedding of blood, but the 
conquest has been effected by brute force and by the power of guns 
rather than by bringing into play any higher mental faculties. The 
conquests of ancient Mexico, Peru, India and Africa, have to all 
appearances been complete, yet recitals of these predatory wars 
constitute dark pages in the history of civilization and are examples 
that should not be emulated. 

An exhaustive investigation of the subject of flesh foods leads 
every unprejudiced thinker to the inevitable conclusion that from a 
purely scientific viewpoint their use cannot be justified. Of course, 
there are those who are influenced by habit, fashion, or commercial¬ 
ism, or who are forced to live mostly on meat in the absence of other 
foods, such as the natives of the North. Attention, however, should 
be called to the fact, that the Eskimo does not subsist entirely on 
meat. Many green herbs and weeds, also salmon berries are eaten 
during the short summer season. A seaweed common in the north is 
eaten quite largely. We must also remember that the Eskimo eats 
his meat raw without the addition of salt or condiments, that he 
preserves the blood and partakes frequently of the animal’s organs, 
which contain some vitamins and mineral elements lacking in the 
muscular tissues. If the arguments of those who declare meat essen¬ 
tial for the development of a superior mentality were true, the 
Eskimos should be the most intelligent race on the globe. 

In all cases where due attention is paid to a well-balanced sup¬ 
ply of organic salts in food, the vegetarian diet is successful and 
increases one’s powers of endurance both physically and mentally. 


FLESH FOODS 


343 


Abstinence from flesh foods alone, however, by no means insures 
health. In fact, unless accompanied by an otherwise rational diet, 
vegetarianism is often a retrogressive step. This is especially true 
if white flour products, concentrated sweets and badly prepared 
vegetables are used. 

As a rule, journalistic writers on the diet question appear to be 
mainly concerned in justifying the prevailing habits of the com¬ 
munities in which they live, and for the sake of popularity are 
disposed to condone human frailties. It is largely because of the 
pernicious activity of these people that prejudice against vege¬ 
tarianism in this country is so general and the subject is so be¬ 
littled and misunderstood. While a large number of individuals 
have profited by adopting a sensible meatless diet, there are at 
present very few communities that are strictly vegetarian; and 
these for the most part are made up of people whose religion de¬ 
bars them from killing animals for food. The inhabitants of north¬ 
western Europe, the United States, Canada, Argentine Republic, 
Australia, New Zealand, and the Arctic zones may be termed meat 
eaters, as their diet contains a large part of flesh food. The in¬ 
habitants of the Mediterranean countries of eastern and south¬ 
eastern Asia are practically vegetarians, as they eat fleshfoods only 
occasionally, and then only in moderation. From this point of view 
about one-fourth of the earth’s population use meat as a daily food, 
whereas three-fourths are living on a more or less meatless diet. 
In all European cities the per capita consumption of meat is much 
higher than in the country, while in the United States, Canada, 
and perhaps the Argentine Republic, the consumption is about 
equally divided between city and country. 

The following table shows the estimated per capita consumption 
of meat in the U. S., in pounds, from 1907 to 1921: 


Kind 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

Beef 

79.7 

72.4 

76.2 

71.8 

68.4 

61.7 

60.8 

58.9 

Veal 

7.1 

6.8 

7.5 

7.4 

7.0 

7.0 

5.0 

4.4 

Mutton and 

Lamb 6.4 

6.2 

6.6 

6.5 

7.8 

8.2 

7.5 

7.5 

Pork 

74.1 

85.4 

68.6 

60.3 

75.1 

70.6 

72.5 

69.9 

Goat 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.2 

0.1 

0.2 

0.1 

0.2 

Total 

167.4 

170.9 

159.0 

146.2 

158.4 

147.7 

145.9 

140.9 


(Continued on page 344) 










RATIONAL DIET 


344 


(Continued from page 343) 


Kind 

1915 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 

Beef 

55.7 

58.1 

62.0 

64.8 

57.3 

61.1 

57.7 

Veal 

4.3 

5.3 

6.5 

7.6 

8.2 

8.9 

8.3 

Mutton and Lamb 6.4 

6.2 

4.7 

4.7 

5.8 

5.0 

6.1 

Pork 

72.0 

75.7 

58.4 

68.9 

67.1 

68.9 

72.8 

Goat 

0.2 

0.2 

0.2 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 


Total 

138.6 

145.5 

131.8 

146.1 

138.5 

144.0 

144.9 


The total quantity of meat consumed year by year shows only 
a limited variation. But the steadily increasing population has 
brought about a considerable decline in the per capita consumption. 
For the first five years in the table, from 1907 to 1911, the per 
capita consumption averaged 160.4 pounds while for the last five 
years, from 1917 to 1921 the average was 141.1 pounds. Thus in 
about ten years there has been a decrease of 19.3 pounds, or 12 per 
cent, in the per capita consumption. 

The year 1908 shows the highest per capita consumption with 
170.9 pounds, and the lowest was 1917 with 131.8 pounds. It will 
be remembered, however, that this was the year when war was de¬ 
clared against the Central Powers of Europe and the marketing 
of meat was consequently restricted. Fifty per cent of the meat 
consumed in 1908 was pork, and the average price paid for hogs 
that year in Chicago was $5.70 per hundred pounds, while in 1917 
the proportion of pork to total meat had fallen to 44 per cent, 
and the average price paid for hogs in Chicago had risen to $15.10 
per hundred pounds. 

For comparison with the United States, the meat consumption in 
other countries is given in the following table. The figures in each 
case cover pre-war periods and are an approximation of the normal 
yearly per capita consumption in the various countries: 


Argentina 

281 lbs. 

Belgium 

70 

lbs. 

Australia 

263 “ 

Netherlands 

70 

< < 

New Zealand 

212 “ 

Greece 

68 

< i 

United States (10 


Austria Hungary 

64 

t ( 

year av.) 

142.4 “ 

Norway 

62 

< < 

Canada 

137 “ 

Sweden 

62 

< < 

Cuba 

124 “ 

Poland 

62 

«< 

United Kingdom 

120 “ 

Russia 

50 

< < 

Germany 

115 “ 

Spain 

49 

< < 

France 

80 " 

Italy 

46.4 

<« 

Denmark 

76 “ 

Japan, meat 

1.5 

t < 

Switzerland 

75 “ 

Japan, fish 

25 

n 













FLESH FOODS 


345 


Only three countries have a larger per capita consumption than 
the United States, and these countries having a very sparse popu¬ 
lation are now the great sources of the world’s supply of beef and 
mutton. In six countries statistics are available in regard to the 
proportion of each kind of meat. These figures indicate that Ar¬ 
gentina consumes the most beef; the British meat dietary has the 
closest balance of beef, mutton and pork, while the Germans are 
relatively the greatest pork consumers. 

The great meat-packers of the United States are becoming 
aware of the fact that the consumption of meat is gradually de¬ 
clining, and although there is no immediate danger that the people 
will cease eating meat, the packers realize that they must do some¬ 
thing to protect their industry which represents a gigantic invest¬ 
ment of many million dollars. They have recently inaugurated an 
“Eat more meat” campaign, and it is a deplorable fact that the 
United States Department of Agriculture is very much interested 
in helping the cause of the meat-packers by publishing a number 
of posters which encourage the use of meat. Of course doctors and 
chemists in the employ of the packers are trying by all means to 
increase the consumption of flesh foods by publishing misleading 
arguments in order to extol the nutritive value of meat, but the 
Department of Agriculture should at least refrain from such activ¬ 
ity. 

At the seventeenth annual convention of the Institute of 
American Meat Packers, October, 1922, in Chicago, Dr. W. D. Rich¬ 
ardson, Chairman of the Committee on Nutrition said: 

“It must be apparent to all of you, that in order to overcome 
the falling off in the per capita consumption of meat, which has 
been emphasized upon more than one occasion, you and all the in¬ 
terests and individuals whom you represent must believe in meat 
as a fundamentally desirable human food-stuff, and not only that, 
but you must know the scientific and clinical facts in regard to 
the nutritional value of meat, and its proper place in the diet of 
the child, the adolescent, the adult, the old, the laboring man, and 
the brain-worker, in order to meet any arguments which may be 
put to you.” 

Dr. Richardson called attention to the dearth of literature on 
the nutritive value of meat and took up the question of proteins 
in meat. He pointed out the high percentage of protein in meat 


346 


RATIONAL DIET 


as compared with other foodstuffs and also called attention to the 
phosphorus and iron that are contained in meat. Said Dr. Rich¬ 
ardson : 

“A few members of the medical profession, lacking complete 
knowledge of their subject, have given out the idea that there is 
possibly something harmful about meat, that there is a possibility 
that one might eat too much meat and that if it is not harmful 
in small quantities, it may be harmful in large quantities; natur¬ 
ally, many people have believed what has been told them by these 
misinformed physicians and have taken up the cry that there may 
be something harmful in the eating of meat, certainly in excessive 
meat eating. This committee stands for the mixed diet, the so- 
called balanced diet in which meat has a prominent place. It does 
not recommend an exclusive diet of meat, but, nevertheless, the 
fact is true and should be emphasized that when meat and meat 
products make up the entire supply the diet is a perfectly satis¬ 
factory one as shown by various tribes of Eskimos. ” 

Dr. E. B. Forbes, specialist in nutrition, of the Institute of 
American Meat Packers, in an address delivered before the Chi¬ 
cago Housewives’ League, at their meeting in the Fine Arts Build¬ 
ing, March 13, 1922, brought out the following arguments in favor 
of meat: 

“Meat proteins have a superior nutritive value because they 
more closely resemble the tissues which are to be nourished than 
do other proteins, and can be transformed with less loss. 

* ‘ An especially marked superiority of meat as food is in its rela¬ 
tion to the nourishment of the blood. Whipple and associates at 
the University of California Medical College found that beef mus¬ 
cle, heart and liver were much superior to bread and skim milk for 
restoring the blood to normal in simple anemia. They also found 
that Bland’s pills and other iron containing drugs were quite with¬ 
out value for purposes of blood regeneration. Their best results 
were obtained with heart and liver. 

“As a matter of practical dietetics no nutritive consideration 
compares, as a motive for eating meat, with the fact that we like 
it. 

“Meat also has a capacity, recognized by all physiologists, to 
stimulate the vital processes, which contributes a feeling of vigor 
and physical well-being that makes it virtually an essential in the 
diet of working men, athletes and soldiers. 

“Meat in the diet also has value in connection with the devel¬ 
opment of the teeth. Children reared on soft foods which require 
little mastication often suffer from lack of development of the jaw 
bones and alveolar processes, so that the teeth come through crowd- 


FLESH FOODS 


347 


ed, projecting, crooked. Spare the meat grinder, and save the 
teeth by teaching the child to use them. The aboriginal baby cut 
his teeth on a bone, and ate meat as soon as he could chew it. The 
child of two years has two teeth all the way around, back of the 
front set of four, above and below; and the United States Public 
Health Service advises the feeding of some meat to a child begin¬ 
ning at two years of age. 

“In relation to disease, meat cures pellagra, and anemia, and, 
under appropriate dietary conditions, scurvy and beriberi as well. 
Phenomenal results were obtained in the Japanese navy in the cure 
of beriberi by substituting meat for white rice in the ration. 

“The leading pathologists of the United States agree that meat 
eaten in moderation, during health, is not known to cause any dis¬ 
ease. Stefansson has shown that it is possible to live year in and 
year out on meat alone, provided it is not so thoroughly cooked as 
to injure the scurvy-preventing vitamin. 

‘ ‘ The gist of this whole matter is that we have new reasons for 
regarding meat highly, and we have no reason for departing from 
those habits as to meat eating which our own practical experience 
has led us to adopt.’’ 

While most of the statements of Dr. Forbes are refuted else¬ 
where, a few may be briefly answered here. 

Meat does contain a large amount of protein, an average of 
twenty per cent, but its contents of iron are very small. Physi¬ 
ologists consider the iron compounds contained in the blood and 
tissues of the dead animal of less nutritive value than those con¬ 
tained in fresh fruits and green leaf vegetables. Proteins derived 
from the vegetable kingdom are free from the waste products of 
animal life. It is not necessary to eat meat in order to build up 
healthy muscular tissues, any more than it is required to eat calves’ 
brain in order to form brain cells. Each tissue receives its protein 
material in the form of amino acids from which the particular kind 
of protein characteristic of the tissue can be synthesized. In other 
words, each tissue makes its own proteins from the amino acids 
brought by the blood. All the amino acids necessary for building 
a strong and healthy body can be derived from fruits, nuts and veg¬ 
etables. The daily amount of protein needed is far less than that 
stated in the old physiological text books. 

It is preposterous to recommend heart and liver, an organ 
teeming with waste products (nearly 20 grains of purins per 
pound) for their nutritive contents when the purest and most 


348 


RATIONAL DIET 


prolific sources of the same elements are fruits and green leaf 
vegetables. 

To encourage meat-eating because people have learned to like 
it, is on par with promoting the consumption of alcoholic beverages, 
artificial sweets, stimulants and narcotics, because many people 
have become addicted to the use of them. The perverted taste 
of civilized man is very unreliable as a criterion for judging the. 
necessity for flesh foods in human nutrition. 

Meat is stimulating according to the amount of waste products 
(purins) it contains. In athletic contests in Europe, where en¬ 
durance is the main factor, vegetarians have been as a rule the 
victors. Carbohydrates, especially in the form of natural sugars, 
and not proteins, are the main sources of physical energy. 

The lime content of meat is also low. It is one of the poorest 
materials for building teeth. Almost all the lime is contained in 
the animal bones, and in this form it is not available for human 
nutrition. 

It has been found that if the Japanese soldiers are fed on nat¬ 
ural brown rice, onions and green leaf vegetables, beriberi and scur¬ 
vy disappear. These diseases are caused by a deficiency of alka¬ 
line elements which are best supplied by fresh fruit and vegeta¬ 
bles. 

A vigorous man can live on a more or less exclusive meat diet for 
a time in an arctic climate, but he will overwork his kidneys and 
shorten his life. One of the reasons why the Eskimos manage to 
live on a more or less exclusive meat diet is that they preserve 
the blood of the animal, in order to have some of the necessary min¬ 
eral elements, especially iron. As already stated, the Eskimo 
supplements his meat diet with vegetable products whenever he 
can do so. 

Meat can at best be termed a second class food and is by no 
means essential for the acquisition or maintenance of physical or 
mental strength. In the muscular tissues of the dead animal the 
vibratory forces of nature are in the descendency. They have been 
lost in the production of animal heat, energy, electricity and mag¬ 
netism. In the products of the vegetable kingdom, if used in their 
natural state, the vibratory forces are in ascendency, and exert 


FLESH FOODS 


349 


their full and beneficial influence on the physiological functions of 
the body. 

The word “meat’’ is generally applied to the muscular tissues 
of the animal, deprived of blood, bone and rolls of adipose tissue. 
On an average, lean meat contains about 72 per cent water, 20 per 
cent protein, 5 per cent fat, 2 per cent extraction matter, and 1 per 
cent mineral matter. The protein is made up of a number of am¬ 
ino acids, but not sufficient to be conducive to growth. Lean meat 
is deficient in vitamins “A” and “B,” and contains only a small 
amount of vitamin “C. M It has, therefore, little antiscorbutic 
value. Tinned and pickled meats are practically valueless in this 
respect. The extractive matters contain most of the waste poisons 
(purins) ammoniacal salts, urea, uric acid and other xanthic bod¬ 
ies, which give meat some stimulating effects, generally mistaken 
for strength-giving properties. 

The mineral matter in 1,000 parts water-free meat is com¬ 
posed as follows: 


Potash 

16.52 parts 

Phosphoric acid 

17.00 parts 

Soda 

1.44 “ 

Sulphuric 

0.64 “ 

Lime 

1.12 “ 

Silica 

0.44 “ 

Magnesia 

1.28 “ 

Chlorine 

1.56 “ 

Iron 

0.15 “ 




Phosphoric acid, which is chiefly contained in the nucleins, is 
combined to the extent of two-thirds with potash; another part 
not finding sufficient bases, renders the mineral matter acid. The 
sulphuric acid comes from the sulphur of the albuminoids. Meat, 
besides containing a number of xanthic bodies, forms additional 
waste poisons and acids in the digestive process. 

The following table shows the amount of purin bodies in flesh- 
foods and other food products; also the chemical composition of the 
principal xanthins and alkaloids. Attention must be called to the 
fact that if the meat comes from diseased animals the amount of 
poisonous waste products is very much increased. 


Purin 

Hypoxanthin 
Xanthin 
Uric acid 


C 6 I1 4 N 4 • 

c 0 h 4 n 4 o 

c 0 h 4 n 4 o 2 

c 6 h 4 n 4 0 3 


Adenin 

Guanin 

Caffein 

Theobromin 


c 5 h 6 n 5 

c 6 h 5 n 8 o 

CANA 

c 6 h 2 n 4 0 2 


350 


RATIONAL DIET 


Amount of Purin bodies in grains, per pound: 


Sweetbread 

70.43 

Beans 

4.16 

Beef Extract 

45.00 

Lentils 

4.16 

Liver 

19.26 

Oatmeal 

3.45 

Beefsteak 

14.45 

Peas 

1.26 

Sirloin of beef 

9.13 

Asparagus 

1.05 

Chicken 

9.06 

Onions 

0.06 

Loin of pork 

8.48 

Porter 

1.35 

Veal 

8.13 

Ale 

1.27 

Ham 

8.08 

Lager beer 

1.09 

Mutton 

6.75 

Coffee 

1.70 

Salmon 

8.15 

Ceylon tea 

1.21 

Halibut 

7.14 

Indian tea 

1.05 

Plaice 

5.56 

China tea 

0.75 

Cod 

4.07 

Cacao 

0.50 

Oysters 

2.03 




As already stated, there is a marked physiological difference 
between the products of the vegetable kingdom and flesh foods. 
Plants are constructive. Their activity consists mainly of tissue 
building; while activity of the animal organism is two-fold—tissue 
destroying and tissue building. The animal body may be likened 
to a structure in which two opposite forces are at work; one tear¬ 
ing down, the other building up new tissues. Normal growth is 
the result of proper equalization of these forces. In the growth 
of the plant no destructive process has been discovered. If it 
exists at all, it must be very trifling in comparison. Protoplasm 
is taken from the older parts of the plant, and while these parts 
die, the protoplasm does not decompose, but is used again in tissue 
building. In the final analysis, flesh proteins are of less nutri¬ 
tional value to the human organism than plant proteins, because 
the former are always combined with a large number of substances 
that have undergone the various stages of catabolism and have 
lost their electric and magnetic tension in the performance of 
the various physiological functions of the body. While the living 
animal cell reaches a higher stage of evolution than that of the 
plant, the life of the former depends upon the continuous removal 
of the waste poisons, which remain and rapidly increase in the 
decomposing carcass of the animal. With every piece of flesh, 
therefore, the excretory organs, especially the liver and kidneys, 
are over-taxed by the additional poisons created in the tissues of 
the animal. 


FLESH FOODS 


351 


It has been found that in man the liver destroys only about 
one-half of the uric acid circulating in the blood, whether de¬ 
rived from external sources in the form of meat, or generated with¬ 
in the body by its own tissue changes. This is due to the fact that 
the liver and kidneys receive equal quantities of blood.. In car¬ 
nivorous animals, however, the liver is much more active, receiv¬ 
ing a much larger food supply in proportion to that received by 
the kidneys. In fact, the liver of carnivorous animals is able to 
destroy from ten to fifteen times as much uric acid as the liver 
of a man, a fact which clearly indicates that the human constitu¬ 
tion is not physiologically adapted to the proper digestion of flesh 
foods. 

The meat of diseased animals—a large number of stable fed 
cattle suffer from various diseases—often contains poisons to a 
dangerous degree, and alarming, quantities of such food are con¬ 
sumed throughout the country. Despite the fact that millions of 
pounds of meat, totally unfit for use, are confiscated every year, 
it is quite certain that, especially in the poorer districts of all our 
larger cities, immense quantities of objectionable meat that escape 
investigation are sold and thus endanger public health and life. 

The once widely advertised “Liebig’s Beef Extract,” really 
concentrated beef broth, must be considered rather as a poisonous 
stimulant than a food. The small amount of nitrogenous matter 
it contains is more than offset by the large amount of creatin, cre- 
atinin, carnin and xanthin to be found in it, and also by the pre¬ 
dominance of acid-forming elements. In every case where these 
extractives cause a temporary stimulating effect by increasing the 
action of the heart and arterial tension, they are followed by a de¬ 
cided reaction. Intelligent physicians, therefore, refuse to pre¬ 
scribe them and recommend alkaline fruit juices instead. 

Some of the organs of the animal, such as the sweetbread, liver 
and kidneys, which are frequently used as food, contain toxic 
waste products to a much higher degree than the muscular tis¬ 
sues, especially when the animal has been in a diseased condition. 
The animal most subject to disease is the domesticated hog, especial¬ 
ly if fed on decaying garbage, as is so often the case. Hogs are 
frequently infected with trichinae, which renders their meat par¬ 
ticularly objectionable. Trichinae are also found in fresh water 
fish, such as the pike and salmon. On account of their rapid 


352 


RATIONAL DIET 


putrefaction fish are especially likely to develop the highly poison¬ 
ous ptomaines. This is also the case with oysters and Crustacea 
that live near the mouths of rivers, or near harbors, into which 
drainage is discharged. 

Another point may be mentioned here: carnivorous animals 
have atrophied inactive sweat glands, whereas in man, and frugiv- 
orous and herbivorous animals, they are well-developed. While in 
the course of evolution these glands were retained by the former 
as rudimentary organs, they have completely lost the habit of 
sweating, a circumstance that protects the carnivora against a sud¬ 
den loss of water through the skin, and consequent retention and 
precipitation of waste poison in the system. We know that uric 
acid and its salts dissolve easily in warm water, but with difficulty 
in cold water—fifteen grains of uric acid requires one gallon of 
water at the body temperature for their solution. The fluid that 
keeps the uric acid and its salts dissolved in the body is the water 
contained in the blood and tissues. If the fluids of the body are 
suddenly diminished and cooled, as in the case of sweating, a pre¬ 
cipitation of uric and crystals in the system will occur, causing seri¬ 
ous disturbances. 

Animals whose food constantly adds large quantities of waste 
products to those already in the body, must be provided with 
means to keep these substances in solution. This protection is given 
to the carnivorous animals by the atrophied sweat glands, which 
prevent a sudden loss of tissue fluids. 

As man is subject to sweating, it is evident that he was not 
intended to live on meat and highly acid-forming foods, and while 
he may eat with comparative immunity a limited amount of these, 
it is well to remember that they should never constitute the prin¬ 
cipal portion of his diet. 

The statement that animal protein is more easily digested than 
vegetable protein, is contradicted by the fact that in the actual 
rebuilding of the tissues of the body, the former has less biological 
value than the vegetable protein, which is free from the waste 
products of animal life, and, moreover, has a stronger vibratory 
force, as a result of having been developed from the soil under the 
direct influence of water, air, and sunlight. Furthermore, “the 
great protein delusion” that the adult human being needs from 
three to four ounces of protein per day has been exploded long 


FLESH FOODS 


353 


ago. The average man or woman has no use for more protein than 
about one ounce per day. What is furnished above this amount is 
made into sugar and starch and often into fat. The extra amount 
of protein means overwork for the liver and kidneys and increased 
blood pressure. 

The temporary sensation of strength following a meal of flesh 
foods, experienced also in a similar degree after using alcoholic 
beverages, tobacco, coffee, and tea, is for the most part due to the 
stimulating effects of its various xanthin bodies, which the system 
seeks to remove by means of increased circulation, at the expense 
of latent vitality. 

These circumstances frequently furnish ground for the state¬ 
ment that the use of meat is more conducive to brain work than 
a vegetarian diet. Herbert Spencer once said: ‘ ‘ I tried vegetarian¬ 
ism for three months and found I was obliged to destroy every¬ 
thing I wrote during that period because of lack of meat.” Spen¬ 
cer was a lifelong invalid and a chronic dyspeptic, and he 
bad accustomed himself to the stimulating effects of meat. His 
diet was evidently not well chosen and was probably deficient in 
some of the organic salts. The inference is that he simply discard¬ 
ed flesh foods without otherwise improving his diet, and he was, 
therefore, by no means justified in condemning vegetarianism. 
Without doubt many others who have depended upon a meatless 
diet for a brief period, and who at the same time have persisted in 
consuming devitalized cereals and vegetables, will agree with Spen¬ 
cer. 

The testimony of two celebrated ancient philosophers and 
writers, who lived in an age when wholesale food adulteration 
was practically unknown, furnishes a more reasonable and con¬ 
vincing basis of argument. Writing to his friend Firmus, who 
had abandoned the Pythagorean doctrine in order to eat meat, 
the philosopher Porphyry, living in the third century, said: 

“I cannot believe that your change of diet is due to reasons 
of health, for you yourself have constantly affirmed that a vege¬ 
table diet is much more suitable than any other, not only to give 
perfect health, but even a philosophic and balanced judgment, as 
a long experience had taught you.” 

And Seneca, who, after studying the problem of nutrition for 
many years, had adopted vegetarianism, wrote: 

“Struck by such arguments, I also have given up the use of 


354 


RATIONAL DIET 


flesh of animals, and at the end of a year my new habits have be¬ 
come not only easy to me, but most agreeable; and it even seems 
to me that my intellectual aptitudes have become more and more 
developed. ’ ’ 

Isaac Newton adhered strictly to a vegetarian regimen while 
performing the prodigious intellectual work which made his name 
immortal. 

Among the modern philosophers and artists who have fol¬ 
lowed or advocated a rational vegetarian regimen may be men¬ 
tioned: Shelley, Byron, Thoreau, Tolstoi, Richard Wagner, Tagore, 
Maeterlinck, Alexander Pope, and George Bernard Shaw. 

It is often asserted that fish, because of the phosphoric acid 
it contains, is particularly conducive to brain work. This assump¬ 
tion is largely based on Moleschott’s saying: ‘ ‘ Without phosphorus, 
no thought.” While it is undeniable that phosphorus is an impor¬ 
tant constituent of the brain, it still remains to be demonstrated 
in what manner this element is connected with mental activity. 
The proper functioning of the brain depends on the purity and 
proper circulation of the blood, and not on the presence of a single' 
element. Oxygen is certainly more important than any other 
known element and its supply depends upon the presence of iron, 
which is deficient in the muscular tissues of fish. Mark Twain 
once wrote to a young writer of mediocre capability who asked the 
humorist's opinion about some of his writings, and incidentally 
concerning the value of fish as a brain food, that he would do well 
to eat a whale every day and thereby become a celebrated author, 
since it was said that a fish diet had a stimulating effect upon the 
mental activities! 

A famous editorial writer who indulges occasionally in fanati¬ 
cal attacks on vegetarianism, some time ago treated his readers to 
the following bit of absurdity: 

“The grass grows, and man can’t eat that; he hasn’t time to 
digest it. The ox eats the grass and man eats the ox. A meat diet 
is simply a time saving device. In an hour a man with a meat diet 
can restore his wasted tissues, using up very little vitality in the 
digestive process, living longer by so doing, and devoting his time 
to more important work than digesting.” 

The idea that fleshfoods are in some manner pre-digested plant 
food, ready to be swallowed down and assimilated, is entirely er¬ 
roneous both from a chemical as well as a physiological standpoint. 


FLESH FOODS 


355 


Meat, which is composed of the muscular tissues of the animal, is 
deficient in the important blood and bone building elements, and 
a man living principally on lean meat would slowly starve him¬ 
self. 

Carnivorous animals devour all of the blood aud bones of their 
prey, and thus secure a sufficient supply of the elements to main¬ 
tain life. In captivity, these animals, if fed mostly on lean meat, 
as in zoos, rapidly fail, and by degrees lose their reproductive pow¬ 
ers. Their young show all the symptoms of rickets, but recover if 
fed frequently on whole rabbits or chicken, containing the blood 
and entrails. 

The arguments against meat eating from the standpoint of 
physical strength and endurance are equally strong. Medical 
science is still suffering from Liebig's old theory that the human 
or animal muscle works on proteins, whereas as a matter of fact 
nearly all heat and energy are produced by fats and carbohydrates. 
It is now an established fact that the adult body cannot make use 
of more than about five per cent protein, of the total amount of 
solid food needed daily. A man, even at strenuous work, and 
consuming per day about twenty ounces of water free food, has 
no need for any excessive amount of protein, as it is not used as 
tissue building material, but is broken up into carbohydrates and 
burned up as such in the body. A diet containing a surplus of pro¬ 
tein has, therefore, no advantage whatsoever. In fact, a surplus 
of protein overloads the system with waste poisons, and has only 
a temporary stimulating effect. Two ounces of protein per day, 
making allowance for incomplete digestion, amply covers the re¬ 
quirements of the most strenuous worker. (See table in the appen¬ 
dix, giving the amounts of various foods necessary to supply two 
ounces of protein.) 

The most severe and conclusive tests of physical endurance 
and strength have been performed on a judiciously selected flesh¬ 
less diet. The athletes of ancient Greece were trained entirely on 
a fruitarian diet. In nearly all modern athletic and endurance con¬ 
tests of Europe, the vegetarians have carried off the laurels. The 
boatmen of Constantinople who live on bread, figs and olives, 
possess wonderful physical development. The powers of endurance 
of the Japanese have been commented upon by many writers. In 
the Boxer Rebellion the Japanese outdistanced the allied troops in 


356 


RATIONAL DIET 


marching, while during the Russian-Japanese War the recuper¬ 
ative powers of Japanese soldiers were often commented upon. 
Lately the use of flesh foods has been introduced into the Japanese 
army, and it will eventually lead to a deterioration in their general 
health and physique, and an increased liability to disease. 

The Japanese themselves attribute their high average of phy¬ 
sical strength to a plain and frugal diet, and to a system of gym¬ 
nastics called “jiu-jitsu,” which includes a knowledge of anatomy 
and the internal and external use of water. According to the 
British Medical Journal, in 1899 a commission was appointed by 
Japan to consider whether by a meat-diet, or by other means, the 
stature of the race could be raised, but the conclusion arrived at 
was, that seeing their feats of strength and powers of endurance 
were superior to races much taller than themselves, their small 
stature did not matter. 

The annual per capita consumption of beef and mutton in 
Japan is surprisingly low, amounting to about iy 2 pounds per cap¬ 
ita as against about 142 pounds consumed in the United States. 
The per capita consumption of fish in Japan amounts to about 25 
pounds. Most, if not all, of the meat used in Japan is consumed by 
well-to-do people in large cities. The greater part of the fish, also, 
is consumed by people in comfortable circumstances, especially in 
the coast regions. Methods of preserving fish are not yet highly 
developed. Moreover, among the rural population, the high price 
of fish prohibits its regular use. 

The rural population of the interior depends very largely, or 
almost entirely, upon a vegetable diet. And this, it may be ob¬ 
served, practically means vegetarianism. The so-called lacto-vege- 
tarianism is unknown in Japan. Cows are scarce, and milk and 
other dairy products are expensive, and such as are available 
are consumed entirely by the wealthier people in the cities. Pro¬ 
fessor Oshima says that the peasants in the rural districts of Japan, 
living largely on vegetable food, are really healthier and stronger 
than the people of the better classes, who live on a mixed diet. 

Among strict vegetarians we also find examples of untiring 
capacity for work, as, for instance, the people of a Hindoo tribe 
who carry tourists to the top of the Himalaya Mountains, an ascent 
of 17,000 feet in three and a half hours. Their food consists of 
dates, rice, chapiti (a food made of chick peas), and a small amount 


FLESH FOODS 


357 


of butter (ghee). These people are very lean, but are so inde¬ 
fatigable on the march that they allow themselves but a very short 
time for taking their scanty meals. Despite the cool air in the high 
altitudes, they go about with little more than a loin cloth. 

As previously mentioned, the nutrition diseases, frequently 
occurring in Oriental countries, are due to a deficiency of the es¬ 
sential organic salts and vitamines in diet, and not to the absence 
of meat. Wherever the peeled or polished rice is replaced by the 
natural whole rice, supplemented by green leaf vegetables and 
vegetable proteins, health is quickly restored. 

In all cases where mental and physical endurance have been put 
to a severe test, it was found that a well selected, meatless diet, 
shows far better results than a mixed diet, other contributing cir¬ 
cumstances being equal. Prize fighters, who are generally heavy 
meat eaters, decline in health before they reach middle age, whereas 
the most long lived and healthy people are found among 
those nations that consume the smallest amount of meat. 

Bernard Auzimour, a French army officer, who studied the 
Arabs for many years, gave the following information about their 
habits of living in his treatise La Resistance des Arabes: 

11 The Arabs are slim and wiry; their limbs are lithe and strong. 
They live in tents made of camel's hair, which are of such a na¬ 
ture that the wind blows right through them. Their frugality is 
just as far famed as that of the camel. Men often go on long 
journeys into the desert with only a bag of meal, some figs and 
dates and a skin of water. With the meal the Arab makes some 
little cakes, each about the size of an ordinary walnut, which he 
dries in the sun or bakes in his fire. These cakes, with some dried 
figs or dates, are his provision for the day. The fare is nearly al¬ 
ways vegetable plus a little milk, and, very rarely, a little meat. 

“Alcohol—the ‘sea of sin’ as the Arabs call it—is strictly 
forbidden them by their creed, for their prophet was well aware 
of its dangerous influence. 

“The Arabs are very hardy and very resistant to disease. Ab¬ 
dominal wounds, with perforation of the intestines, heal without 
the use of antiseptics when the injured parts have been put back 
into place. Wounds, healing in such circumstances and without 
consequent blood poisoning, are a source of wonder to surgeons 
acquainted only with meat-eating Europeans. 

“The Arabs are almost entirely immune to typhus. There are 
many French physicians in Tunis who have never encountered 
a case of disease among these people. The following statistics 
from L'Hopital de Mustapha are very striking. It was found 


358 


RATIONAL DIET 


there were 659 cases of typhus among 28,251 European patients, 
which is 2.3 per cent, and among 9,147 Arab patients there were 
but thirteen cases of typhus, which is 0.1 per cent. 

“According to these figures 23 meat-eating and wine-drinking 
Europeans developed typhus to one of the abstemious, practically 
vegetarian Arabs, despite the fact that the former live under 
far better sanitary conditions. 

“Diseases of nutrition are almost unknown; ulcers and cancer 
of the stomach are very seldom met with, and if one comes across 
a case of summer diarrhoea, it is generally because the sufferer has 
been eating too many melons. Appendicitis is very rare among 
the Arabs, and is entirely unknown among the vegetarian nomads. 
Gout and kidney gravel are also quite unknown. 

“That this immunity against disease is by no means a racial 
peculiarity is shown by the fact that wherever the wealthier 
classes of Arabs have adopted European methods of eating, their re¬ 
sistance against diseases is decreasing. This is but natural, as the 
putrefaction arising from a heavy meat diet is at the root of most 
intestinal disorders. ’ ’ 

In his book “Protein and Nutrition,’’ Dr. M. Hindhede gives 
some interesting and instructive statistics about mortality in dif¬ 
ferent occupations in England, taken from Tatham’s 65th annual 
Report (1900-1902). For the sake of comparison he puts the ratio 
of mortality of farm laborers, who as a rule lead a simple and 
frugal life in the open air, at one per cent, and makes the follow¬ 
ing divisions: 

1. Farm laborers, who are not able to afford much meat as a 

rule. 

2. Workmen in towns, representing the urban lower class. 

3. Tradesmen (building trade), representing the urban middle 

class. 

4,5. Commercial travelers and butchers, representing the 
heavy-living (meat eating) classes. 

6. Physicians, representing the well-to-do intelligent classes. 

Tatham’s 65th Annual Report 

Diseases 



Tubercu¬ 

losis 

Bright’s 

Disease 

of the 

Diseases of Digestive, 
the Liver System 

Diabetes 

Gout 

Farm Laborers 

1.00 

1.00 

1.00 

1.00 

1.00 

1.00 

Industrial “ 

6.30 

4.79 

5.25 

2.09 

1.67 

1.00 

Building Trades 

2.11 

2.79 

2.62 

1.20 

1.17 

3.00 

Commercial 

Travelers 

1.87 

2.92 

7.50 

1.40 

2.50 

4.00 

Butchers 

2.02 

3.23 

7.50 

1.45 

3.33 

5.00 

Doctors 

0.72 

3.14 

6.75 

2.30 

4.00 

3.00 


FLESH FOODS 


359 


Dr. Hindhede makes the following comment: 

“There are many interesting things to be learned from this 
table. But one lesson it does not teach. It is not able to persuade 
us to believe that meat imparts health and energy! Diseased 
stomachs, livers and kidneys are not calculated to increase mental 
power.” (The italics are mine.) 

“As a doctor, I am glad to see how my professional brothers 
are able to avoid tuberculosis; but it grieves me to see my English 
colleagues dying of diseases of nutrition at a higher rate, as a 
rule, than men of other occupations. They appear to have been 
martyrs to the mistakes of science. 

“That meat-eating does not prevent tuberculosis is proven by 
the fact that the death-rate from tuberculosis is very high among 
butchers and commercial travelers. 

“That deaths from tuberculosis are higher in towns than in 
the country is easily understood; but it is, according to old views, 
difficult to understand why the mortality from Bright’s disease 
and from liver and digestion diseases, should be so high in the cities, 
where people eat ‘easily digestible’ foods, in contrast to the coarse 
foods used in the country. 

“I have heard many authorities speak about meat as an energy- 
food, but I have never yet encountered any proof of it. I will 
not deny that after eating a large beefsteak there may be a feeling 
of bodily warmth. Meat is able to increase combustion (Rubner), 
but this feeling is not energy. After such a beefsteak there is 
more inclination for sleep than for hard work. Meat is a fiercely 
burning fuel, but it seems to burn out the oven itself in the long run. 

* ‘ Thus, it will be seen that it is very misleading to write: ‘ The 
more energetic races of the world have been meat-eaters.’ The 
truth is that the energetic races eat but little meat; but with 
increasing wealth and culture, meat-eating also increases, while the 
national energy decreases. Once the reserve of healthy, plain livers 
is exhausted (rural populations are at present decreasing) there is 
nothing to prevent the invasion of some energetic barbarian race, 
which may conquer and rule for a time until the conquerors also 
degenerate, spoiled by contact with the two greatest dangers that 
exist for human beings: wealth and modern culture. Every student 
of history must know that wealth, gluttony and drunkenness are 
the three great destroyers of energy. ’ ’ 

Another, and perhaps the most important argument, in favor 
of the vegetarian or fruitarian diet, is that man can derive his 
nourishment from a much smaller area when living on the products 
of the soil, for he is receiving them directly from nature, instead 
of feeding them first to cattle and living on their flesh. As the 
population of the earth steadily increases, man will have to content 


360 


RATIONAL DIET 


himself with a smaller space on which to raise his food supply. The 
land that now serves for hunting grounds or cattle raising will be 
much more economically utilized for the cultivation of fruits, nuts, 
vegetables and cereals. It has been estimated that an area of well 
cultivated land can sustain at least twenty times more people by its 
crops than can be nourished on the meat of cattle that feed on its 
spontaneous grasses. 

The following table shows the average amount of different 
products now raised on an acre of land. Better cultivation of 
the soil, combined with proper knowledge and care will in every 
instance increase the output, while the productivity of tropical soil 
under systematic cultivation is simply astounding. 


Food Products 


Average Yield 
Per Acre 


Water Free 
Substance 


Bananas 

24,000 pounds 

6,000 pounds 

Avocados (trees in full bearing) 

10,000 

< i 

» 

3,000 

< i 

Dates (trees in full bearing) 

5,000 

< < 

4,000 

<< 

Cocoanuts (trees in full bearing) 

5,000 

< ^ 

1,500 

11 

Grapes (vines in full bearing) 

8,000 

t i 

2,000 

11 

Figs (trees in full bearing) 

6,000 

11 

1,200 

«< 

Oranges (trees in full bearing) 

14,000 

i < 

1,800 

i < 

Pecans (trees in full bearing) 

2,500 

< < 

2,000 

i < 

Chestnuts (trees in full bearing) 

2,500 

< < 

2,000 

i < 

Almonds (trees in full bearing) 

1,400 

<« 

1,200 

11 

Walnuts (trees in full bearing) 

1,200 

< < 

1,000 

11 

Corn 

1,960 

< < 

1,695 

11 

Sweet Potatoes 

5,940 

< ( 

1,782 

< i 

Irish Potatoes 

6,000 

«< 

1,500 

< < 

Rye 

1,200 

< < 

1,050 

< i 

Wheat 

1,200 

< < 

1,050 

11 

Rice 

1,154 

<« 

1,000 

< i 

Soy Beans 

960 

< < 

850 

i < 

Peanuts 

524 

<« 

500 

< i 

Oats (hulled) 

784 

< < 

720 

i < 

Beans 

840 

< i 

800 

< i 

Cow Peas 

600 

< < 

520 

< i 

Dairy Products 




Milk 

2,190 

pounds 

285 pounds 

Cheese 

219 

< < 

160 

< i 

Butter Fat 

98.5 “ 

90 

i c 






FLESH FOODS 


361 


Poultry (raised far meat and eggs) 



Average Yield 
Per Acre 

Water Free 
Substance 

Meat (dressed) 

66 pounds 

20 pounds 

Eggs 

110.7 “ 

80 “ 

Poultry raised for meat alone 

171 “ 

48 “ 

Poultry raised for eggs alone 

183 “ 

51 “ 

Meat 

Pork (dressed) 

273 pounds 

70 pounds 

Mutton (dressed) 

113 “ 

30 “ 

Beef (dressed) 

125 “ 

35 “ 


Most of the foregoing figures have been prepared by the United 
States Department of Agriculture. The production of live stock 
products per acre was calculated by assuming the acre to be 
devoted to crops suitable for feeding the kind of animal under 
consideration, and in the proper proportion to give a balanced 
ration. In cases where it was not practicable to do this because of 
the necessity of using some food not produced on the farm, it was 
assumed that a suitable proportion of the acre product was ex¬ 
changed for whatever else was needed. 

It is a surprising fact that in most parts of North America, 
hut especially in the United States (and in portions of Australia 
and South America) the chief object of agriculture is not to feed 
men, hut to feed animals. The American farmer grows corn and 
alfalfa, feeds it to cattle, and then in turn eats the cattle; but the 
ox, used as the standard in the preceding table, ate daily 15.64 
pounds of corn; 1.66 pounds of cottonseed meal; 20.5 pounds of 
corn silage; 2.74 pounds of clover hay, and 7.29 pounds of corn 
fodder. On such ration a gain of about 214 pounds per day is 
made, and of this a considerable proportion—more than a third— 
disappears as inedible waste in the process of slaughter. It is safe 
to assume that the land necessary for feeding one ox could, under 
intensive cultivation, produce enough fruits and vegetables to sup¬ 
port ten people. 

The wastefulness of meat production from the standpoint of 
national resources is well stated by Professor Armsby, a leading 
authority on animal nutrition: 

“It may be roughly estimated that about 24 per cent of the 
energy of grain is recovered for consumption in pork, about 18 per 
cent in milk, and only about 3.5 per cent in beef and mutton. In 


362 


RATIONAL DIET 


other words, the farmer who feeds bread grains to his stock, is 
burning up 75 to 97 per cent of them in order to produce for us 
a small residue of roast pig; and so is diminishing the total stock 
of human food. 

“At any rate, it is clear that at the present time the enthusi¬ 
astic but ill considered booming of live stock production may do 
more harm than good. If it is desirable to prohibit the production 
of alcohol from grain or potatoes, on the ground that it involves 
a waste of food value, the same reason calls for a restriction of 
the burning up of these materials to produce roast pig. This 
means, of course, a limited meat supply. To some of us this 
may seem a hardship. Meat, however, is by no means the essential 
that we have been wont to suppose, and partial deprivation of it is 
not inconsistent with high bodily efficiency.” 

We may also briefly consider vegetarianism from a sociological 
standpoint. Plato in his dialogue, “The Republic,” represents 
Socrates as describing an ideal city whose inhabitants subsist on 
a simple vegetarian dietary. Glaukon objects to the simplicity of 
the fare and Socrates replies as follows: 

44 4 Now it appears to me that the city which we have described is 
the genuine, and, so to speak, healthy city. But if you wish us also 
to contemplate a city that is suffering from inflammation, there is 
nothing to hinder us. Some people will not be satisfied, it seems, 
with the fare or the mode of life which we have described, but 
must have, in addition, couches and tables and every other article 
of furniture, as well as viands .... Swineherds again are among 
the additions we shall require—a class of persons not to be found, 
because not wanted, in our healthy city, but needed among the rest 
of the addition. We shall also need great quantities of all kinds 
of cattle for those who wish to eat them, shall we not?’ 

44 ‘Of course we shall,’ replies Glaukon. 

“ ‘Then shall we not experience the need of medical men also 
to a much greater extent under this than under the former regime ?' 

44 ‘Yes, indeed.’ 

44 ‘The country, too, I presume, which was formerly adequate 
to the support of all its inhabitants, will be now too small, and 
adequate no longer. Shall we say so ? ’ 

“ ‘Certainly.’ 

44 ‘Then must we not cut ourselves a slice of our neighbors’ ter¬ 
ritory, if we are to have land enough for both pasture and tillage; 
while they will do the same to ours, if they, like us, permit them¬ 
selves to overstep the limit of necessaries and plunge into the un¬ 
bounded acquisition of wealth?’ 

“ ‘It must be inevitably so, Socrates.’ 


FLESH FOODS 


363 


“ ‘Will our next step be to go to war, Glaukon, or how will it 
be?’ 

“ ‘As you say.’ ” 

It will be observed that, over two thousand years ago, one of the 
greatest philosophers clearly saw the evil and far-reaching effects 
of flesh eating. And yet there are even now comparatively few 
people who realize that the degeneration of man is largely the out¬ 
come of perverted dietetic and hygienic habits, and that the 
slaughter-house is a never ending source of immorality, brutality 
and crime. As a matter of fact, it is impossible for a man to 
remain a criminal after he has once begun to live in perfect har¬ 
mony with nature, which is the only way to restore harmony 
within himself and amiable relationship with his fellowmen. 

The perverted sexual instincts of man and the dreadful 
maladies for which they are responsible are likewise but the conse¬ 
quences of his unnatural methods of living. Despite the numerous 
books that have been written on this important subject, and all the 
w r ell meaning information that they may contain, thousands still 
suffer from these most fatal violations of nature’s laws, making not 
only their own lives, but also those of their children, a hopeless fight 
with misery and disease. 

The ethical aspect of vegetarianism is beautifully elucidated by 
one of America’s most famous authors and naturalists, Henry 
David Thoreau. He says in his book “Walden” in the chapter 
“Higher Laws”: 

“I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to pre¬ 
serve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been 
particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much 
food of any kind. 

“It is hard to provide so simple and clean a diet as will not 
offend the imagination; but this, I think, is to be fed when we 
feed the body; they should both sit down at the same table. Yet 
perhaps this may be done. The fruits eaten temperately need not 
make us ashamed of our appetites, nor interrupt the worthiest 
pursuits. But put an extra condiment into your dish, and it will 
poison you. It is not worth the while to live by rich cookery. Most 
men would feel shame if caught preparing with their own hands 
precisely such a dinner, whether of animal or vegetable food, as 
is every day prepared for them by others. Yet till this is other¬ 
wise we are not civilized, and, if gentlemen and ladies, are not 
true men and women. This certainly suggests what change is to 


364 


RATIONAL DIET 


be made. It may be vain to ask why the imagination will not be 
reconciled to flesh and fat. I am satisfied that it is not. Is it not 
a reproach that man is a carnivorous animal? True, he can and 
does live, in a great measure, by preying on other animals; but 
this is a miserable way—as anyone who will go to snaring rabbits, 
or slaughtering lambs, may learn—and he will be regarded as a 
benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a 
more innocent diet. Whatever my own practice may be, I have no 
doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its 
gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the 
savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in 
contact with the more civilized.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


Dehydration of Foods 

Ever since man began agriculture in the temperate zones, oven 
before the dawn of written language, the preservation of food prod¬ 
ucts for the winter months, or for the purpose of providing nourish¬ 
ment during periods of famine, has been a very important problem. 
The various grains and nuts offered but little difficulty in this 
respect, as they were already fairly well dried by the sun when 
harvested. Throughout the arid sub-tropical regions, such fruits 
as grapes, figs, and dates could be easily preserved by exposing 
them to the rays of the sun as is still done today. 

Sun drying is probably the oldest method of food preservation 
which the human race employed. On the North American Conti¬ 
nent it was used in the early colonial days for both vegetable and 
animal foods. New England colonists dried corn after it had been 
cooked, the product being known as samp, while along the coast 
the drying of fish became an important industry. It is only since 
the beginning of the nineteenth century that the canning of foods 
was introduced in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The first 
patent for the preservation of food in air-tight containers was 
granted in 1910 to a Frenchman, Appert, who discovered the method 
and first utilized it in France. 

Food canning was first introduced in America by William Un¬ 
derwood, who established a company for the exploitation of his proc¬ 
ess in Boston. Canned goods, especially after the introduction of 
tin cans, soon became popular, and canning, in many places, super¬ 
seded the simpler process of drying. The Civil War gave an added 
impetus to the canning industry, and later improvements in the 
methods of sterilization and in the manufacture of cans greatly in¬ 
creased the possibilities of canning, until we have now an enormous 
industry. In 1922, in California alone, 500,000,000 cans of fruits 
and vegetables were packed and are now being distributed through¬ 
out the entire world. California canners are packing approxi¬ 
mately 20,000 carloads worth $125,000,000 annually. 

At the same time, there has also been a tremendous development 


365 


366 


RATIONAL DIET 


in methods of preserving foods by cold storage, and other means 
such as pasteurization, condensation, etc. Although these processes 
require a large investment of capital and elaborate machinery, 
the less expensive process of drying was practically forgotten, 
except in the interior valleys of California, where fruits could be 
dried in a comparatively moisture free atmosphere. 

Drying of foods was revived again in the United States after 
the discovery of gold in Alaska in 1896. The rush of miners to 
the Klondike districts created a demand for foods which were light 
and could be easily transported. At that time considerable quan¬ 
tities of dried potatoes were imported from Germany and shipped 
to Alaska, and while they were not very palatable, they supplied 
a quickly prepared, energy-giving ration. The migration to the 
Alaskan goldfields also encouraged the drying of vegetables along 
the Pacific Coast, and many crude evaporating plants were built to 
supply demand for foods which contained a good deal of nourish¬ 
ment in a condensed form, suitable for transportation over the snow 
covered mountains. 

The Boer War likewise stimulated the drying industry in west¬ 
ern Canada, and the British Army was supplied with many tons of 
dried vegetables mixed so as to form the basis for a quickly pre¬ 
pared soup. Much of this material was manufactured in British 
Columbia and shipped from Canadian and American points to 
South Africa. 

The advantage of evaporated vegetables and fruits as com¬ 
pared with the heavy canned goods, in reducing the cost of produc¬ 
tion and transportation, caused the establishment of a number of 
small plants for the manufacture of dehydrated vegetables and so- 
called soup mixtures. At first these products were not satisfactory, 
but the soundness of the principles involved was soon recognized, 
and more scientific methods were gradually applied and many de¬ 
tails perfected. 

Again, the World War brought an increasing demand for dried 
vegetables and thousands of tons were shipped to Europe. In 
Germany where the potato is the great staple food, the progress 
of the drying industry has been more rapid than elsewhere. In 
1898 there were in Germany only three small drying plants with 
a capacity scarcely large enough to be worthy of mention. The 
method of dehydration then used was evidently successful, for in 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


367 


1906 the number of plants had increased to 39, in 1909 to 199, and 
in 1916 to 841. In addition, 2,000 breweries were utilizing a part of 
their equipment for the drying of food materials. So rapid was 
the increase of this industry on account of the food blockade, that 
about 1900 drying plants were either in operation or under con¬ 
struction in 1917. The fact that the total quantity of potatoes 
dried in Germany alone was more than three times the total crop 
of the United States, explains one of the reasons why Germany could 
hold out so long in her desperate struggle, when all food supplies 
from the outside were practically cut off. 

In France as early as 1850 a great number of vegetables and 
fruits were subjected to hydraulic pressure, producing a highly 
concentrated food product. Somewhat similar mixtures of green 
leaf vegetables and legumes were used in the German army during 
the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. 

In the United States the industry of drying food products did 
not assume any large proportions until the beginning of the World 
War. After the first year of the war, it was found impossible to 
supply fresh and canned vegetables in adequate quantities to the 
British forces, and those of the Colonies. Canada and the United 
States, therefore, were called upon to furnish dehydrated vegetables 
in very large quantities. To supply this demand the owners of the 
already established apple kiln dryers in New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania took up the drying of vegetables, but as little was known of 
the proper methods of preparation and drying, much of the finished 
product was of poor quality. 

After the United States entered into the World War, the de¬ 
mand for dried fruits and vegetables increased still more, and, when 
the first American troops landed in France, several large orders for 
dried food products were placed with the numerous evaporating 
plants, which had just been established. 

The United States Department of Agriculture detailed chemists 
and food experts to aid in investigations for the benefit of the in¬ 
dustry, and a number of experimental stations were established 
and the study of scientific dehydration of fruits and vegetables 
was begun. As a result of these efforts, much progress was made in 
the practical knowledge of the best methods to prepare foods, of 
temperatures of drying, and air and humidity control. While the 


368 


RATIONAL DIET 


evaporation of apples and berries has long been an established 
industry in certain sections of the United States, especially in 
western New York, and the evaporation of prunes has been an 
important business in the Pacific Northwest since 1890, it was only 
with the rapid increase of the California fruit industry that dried 
fruits of the Pacific Coast became an important factor in the world’s 
commerce. 

From small beginnings, the production of dried fruits in 
California has grown enormously during the last twenty years, 
especially since the growers have organized for the packing and 
distribution of their products and new markets have been opened. 

The total production of dried fruits rose from approximately 
185,000 tons in 1910 to approximately 360,000 tons in 1920. Since 
then, orchard and vineyard acreage has increased rapidly. In 1919 
and 1920 alone about 275,000 acres were planted, and nurseries 
were unable to supply the demand for trees and vines. We should 
therefore expect a very much increased output of fruit by 1925, 
when most of the newly planted orchards and vineyards come into 
bearing. 

The difficulty of shipping fresh fruit to great distances and the 
frequent car shortage through the harvest season, must necessitate 
a larger production of dried fruits, as it will be almost impossible 
for the canneries to take care of an increase over 100,000 tons of 
fresh fruit. The markets and the consumption of dried fruits, 
must also be increased, if fruit growing is to continue to be 
profitable. This can be done by improving the quality of dried 
fruits, doing away with all the objectionable features of the old 
fashioned drying processes and by educating the public to the great 
nutritive and hygienic value of properly dried fruits. 

Except for a few years at the beginning of the California fruit 
industry, nearly all fruits have been dried in the sun, especially 
in the hot and dry interior valleys where the conditions for sun 
drying are excellent. One of the most objectionable adjuncts of 
sun drying is the sulphuring of such fruits as apricots, figs, nec¬ 
tarines, peaches, pears, silver prunes, etc., to prevent their dis¬ 
coloration while exposed for a week or more to the open air. 

Under the able guidance of Professors W. V. Cruess and A. W. 
Christie of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University 
of California in Berkeley, methods of dehydration have been im- 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


369 


proved recently and much credit is due them for the fact that 
scientific methods of foods preservation have become better under¬ 
stood throughout the Pacific Coast regions. The University of 
California has published their investigations and experiments in a 
number of bulletins, which show that properly dehydrated products 
are equal or even superior to the sun dried fruits, and that dehy¬ 
dration possesses many advantages over sun drying, both from the 
sanitary and the economical point of view, with the exception of 
the California raisin and fig, as the curing of these fruits in the 
dry and hot climate of the San Joaquin Valley has proved satis¬ 
factory. 

It is only during unusual climatic conditions, such as early fall 
rains, that the artificial drying of raisins has to be resorted to. 
This was the case in 1918 when, in the first part of September, a 
heavy rainstorm lasting several days drenched California and 
ruined millions of dollars worth of fruit, lying on trays in the 
orchards, throughout the leading fruit districts. This unfortunate 
occurrence caused the erection of many improvised evaporators, 
to save as much as possible of the fruit crop intended for drying. 
But this great and sudden loss of a year’s effort and toil brought 
the subject of dehydration of fruits even more forcibly to the front 
than the war. 

So far, the terms “drying” “evaporating” “dehydrating,” 
have been used more or less indiscriminately. In 1920 Professors 
Cruess and Christie published their views upon the terminology of 
fruit drying processes in Agricultural Bulletin No. 322 of the 
University of California. At that time it was stated that the term 
“dried” should apply to all dried fruits, whether sun dried or 
dried by artificial heat, and that “evaporated” should be used to 
designate fruits dried by artificial heat. “Dehydrated” and 
“evaporated” have exactly the same meaning, only one is derived 
from the Latin and the other from the Greek. The fruit-drying 
industry itself, however, has definitely favored the word “de¬ 
hydrated” in preference to “evaporated” to designate artificially 
dried food products of superior quality. It appears, therefore, 
that commercial usage may cause the adoption of the former term 
in the dried fruit trade. 


370 


RATIONAL DIET 


In order to avoid confusion, the following definitions are now 
generally used. 

1. Drier: A general term, applicable to all machines used for 
drying fruits or other materials. Examples: hot drier, cement 
drier, lumber drier, etc. 

2. Evaporator: A drying machine without any forced draft 
which does not permit accurate control of temperature, humidity, 
or air velocity. 

3. Dehydrater: A drying machine with forced draft and in 
which the temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity can be 
accurately controlled. 

The advantages claimed for the process of dehydration are : 

1. That the dehydrated fruits, when prepared for the table, 
more nearly resemble the fresh fruit in color and flavor. 

2. That dehydrated fruits are produced under more sanitary 
conditions. 

3. That dehydration permits more exact control of quality 
and yield. 

4. That less land and fewer trays are required to dehydrate a 
given tonnage of fruit. 

5. That dehydration makes it possible to combine all the 
steps of drying and packing in one building. 

Besides providing against rain damage, dehydraters are useful 
in fruit-growing sections in which there is, even in normal years, 
insufficient sunshine to permit successful sun drying. 

The evolution of the modern process of dehydrating from the 
earliest kiln driers to the present highly efficient system, is a record 
of one attempt after another to secure air circulation upon which 
the effectiveness of the drying process depends. 

In the further development of drying processes from natural or 
gravity circulation, by convection, to mechanically forced circula¬ 
tion by means of fans or blowers, it became apparent that the mois¬ 
ture content of the air, and its vapor pressure, as well as the tem¬ 
perature, must be carefully studied and controlled. The circulation 
of the air must not only be uniform throughout the entire interior 
of the dryer, but the velocity of such circulation must be high 
enough to insure effective action. This relatively high velocity is 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


371 


necessary, because the material, as soon as it begins to dry, be¬ 
comes surrounded with a heavy, sluggish strata of saturated air 
and the velocity of impact of the air in circulation within the 
drier must be sufficient to constantly disperse this air. 

Fruits and vegetables cannot be dehydrated satisfactorily in 
very dry air, and in order to process them successfully, we must 
surround them with moist air. To the uninitiated it may seem para¬ 
doxical, that in order to make fresh foods dry, we must surround 
them with moist air, which will dry them quickly and uniformly, 
whereas dry air will not dry them at all, or at least very poorly. 

In dehydrating, the temperatures used vary, usually from 75 
degrees to 180 degrees F. and the relative humidity from 15 per 
cent to 80 per cent. As the temperature increases, the moisture 
carrying capacity also increases, but at a much faster ratio. This 
is indicated by the following table, showing how much moisture 
air at a given temperature can absorb to bring it to the point of 


saturation or 100 per 

cent relative humidity. 

Grains of moisture in 
1 cubic foot of air at 
point of saturation : 

70 Degrees of Fahrenheit to 

7.94 

85 

11 it 

11 

11 

12.43 

105 

t < t t 

11 

11 

22.00 

110 

it it 

11 

11 

25.00 

115 

11 11 

11 

11 

30.00 

130 

11 a 

11 

11 

42.50 

141 

tt n 

11 

11 

58.00 

157 

it tt 

11 

11 

85.00 

170 

11 it 

11 

11 

112.00 

179 

it tt 

11 

11 

138.00 

188 

11 tt 

11 

11 

166.00 

195 

tt tt 

11 

11 

194.00 

212 

11 tt 

11 

11 

265.00 


(Weight of 1 cubic foot of air approximately 550 grains or 1% oz.) 


At 141 degrees F. the moisture carrying capacity of the air is 
more than seven times greater than at 70 degrees F., while at 
170 degrees F. it is 14 times greater than at 70 degrees F.; in 
other words, a rise in temperature of 100 degrees, has increased the 
moisture carrying capacity of the air fourteen times. 1,000 cubic 
feet of air at 170 degrees F. can carry 16 pounds of moisture, or 
about % of the weight of the air. 

The expansion of air with increasing temperature is very small, 




372 


RATIONAL DIET 


amounting to only l/490th of the volume for each degree in the 
rise of temperature; while the amount of water vapor which can 
be absorbed is practically doubled at each 27 degrees F. rise in 
temperature. At the beginning of the dehydrating process when the 
free, or non-hygroscopic moisture is being removed, the relative 
humidity is comparatively high, usually 80 per cent or more. 
This high relative humidity must be maintained in order to pre¬ 
vent the material from “case-hardening'* or surface-drying. Sur¬ 
face drying causes surface ruptures and spoils the product. Fur¬ 
thermore, surface-drying encases the fruit in a layer of dried 
material through which it is difficult, and sometimes practically 
impossible to induce further drying. At a relative humidity of 
about 80 per cent most hygroscopic substances possess their max¬ 
imum elasticity or plasticity, and this is, therefore, the relative 
humidity most desirable at the beginning of the process. 

Rapid heating in dry air of freshly cut slices of a succulent 
fruit or vegetable causes bursting of the cell membranes by ex¬ 
pansion of their contents and permits the escape of water, which 
carries with it dissolved sugars, organic salts, and flavoring sub¬ 
stances, thus reducing both the palatability and the food value of 
the product. Consequently, only moderate temperatures can be 
employed at the beginning of the drying process, otherwise bursting 
of cells and dripping will occur. It is evident, therefore, that rapid 
drying cannot be secured by the employment of high temperatures 
with fresh fruits or vegetables, without depreciating the quality. 
Nor can materials already partially dry be subjected to high 
temperatures without injuring the products or making them almost 
valueless from the standpoint of rational nutrition. 

After the free moisture has been absorbed and carried off, it 
is best to retain only part of the hygroscopic moisture, because the 
removal of all this moisture usually effects a physical change in 
the material which reduces its value. The regulation of the final 
or residual hygroscopic moisture content is accomplished by main¬ 
taining in the dehydrater, at the end of the process, such a degree 
of relative humidity as corresponds with the final moisture content 
desired in the finished product. For instance, if evaporated fruits 
with 20 per cent moisture are wanted, the relative humidity at the 
end of the dehydrater should show approximately the same per¬ 
centage. 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


373 


Successful dehydrating depends upon proper arrangements 
for preventing the series of changes which begin as soon as the 
material is cut into pieces and exposed to the air. This entails the 
employment of a temperature high enough to prevent the growth of 
micro-organisms, but not too high to cause bursting of the cells in 
the fresh material or the scorching of the parts which have lost 
most of their water. 

Fruits and vegetables are composed of millions of cells filled 
with water and surrounded by a network of delicate fiber and 
connecting tissue. If the water is removed from the cells without 
damaging the cell walls or the surrounding fiber, the cells will 
retain their elasticity and absorb moisture again at the first oppor¬ 
tunity. This can be best accomplished by first subjecting the fruit 
to a current of humid air of moderate heat and gradually increas¬ 
ing the temperature until the fruit has lost about fifty per cent of 
its moisture. 



A Convenient and Accurate Form of Hygrometer for the Determination 
of the Relative Humidity of Air in Dehydraters 

The hygrometer is a very necessary instrument for the proper 
control of the moisture content of the air, which has been shown 

































374 


RATIONAL DIET 


to be one of the most impotant factors in the correct dehydration 
of fruits. It is a simple instrument, and anyone can easily operate 
it after a few minutes’ instruction. It indicates the absolute and 
relative humidity of the air. 

Absolute Humidity is the actual weight of water vapor contained 
in a given amount of air, the weight being expressed in grains per 
cubic foot of air. 

Relative Humidity, on the other hand, is the ratio of the amount 
of moisture in the air to the amount contained when saturated at 
the same temperature. It is, therefore, expressed in per cent. 

The ordinary temperature of the air, without any relation to its 
moisture content, is known as the dry bulb temperature. The wet 
bulb temperature, read on a thermometer having its bulb wound 
with a moistened wick, is the temperature at which the air would 
become saturated if moisture were added to it without the addition 
or subtraction of any degree of heat. 

The difference between the wet and dry bulb temperature is a 
measure of the amount of moisture in the air. The humidity of the 
air is determined by this relation; the humidity being read from 
the chart on the hygrometer. 

In the old style evaporators, very little attention is paid to the 
moisture content of the air. The chief use of the kiln evaporator 
in New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Virginia, is for drying 
sliced apples. The drying room of a kiln has a floor made of narrow 
pieces of slate laid at intervals of one-fourth or three-eighths of 
an inch apart, and the fruit to be dried is spread upon the floor 
in a uniform layer of four to six inches in depth. The heat is 
furnished by pipes from a furnace below. 

The tunnel evaporator, as generally used for prunes in Oregon, 
Washington, and Idaho, has been gradually perfected by modi¬ 
fying the “Allen Evaporator,” manufactured and patented by 
W. K. Allen of Newberg, Oregon. In its essential feature this tun¬ 
nel evaporator consists of a long narrow room, with the floor and 
ceiling inclined uniformly from end to end, and with a furnace 
below the floor. The room is cut into a series of narrow chambers 
or ‘ ‘ tunnels, ’ ’ by parallel partitions, which may be solid or merely 
an open frame work of slats. In some of the larger and more elab¬ 
orate plants the trays upon which the fruit is spread are loaded 
upon trucks fitted with an open framework to support and separate 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


375 


them, and these trucks are rolled in one behind another at the upper 
end of the tunnel until it is filled. The dry fruit is removed at the 
lower end by withdrawing the truck carrying it, and then the 
others are moved down by force of gravity, permitting a new truck 
to be rolled in at the upper end. 

The heated air is admitted at the lower end of the tunnel from 
a furnace placed in the room beneath, and rises through the suc¬ 
cessive series of trays, and then passes off, loaded with moisture 
through a ventilator shaft at the opposite, higher end. The air- 
movement is secured by an arrangement of air intakes in the fire 
room. 

The Stack Evaporator is used commonly in California for apple 
drying. The heating system is the same as that used for the kiln 
and tunnel operators. The drying cabinets or “stacks” are on 
the second floor. The drying takes place on trays which slide into 
a drying chamber situated directly above the heating flues. The 
bottom of the stack is open; the top consists of an inverted hopper 
which ends in a tall ventilator. 

Like the kiln drier and the Oregon tunnel evaporator, this stack 
evaporator has no forced draft or humidity control, and conse¬ 
quently does not turn out the highest quality of evaporated fruit. 

The Air Blast Evaporator if properly operated, is a vast im¬ 
provement over the Oregon Tunnel Evaporator. It is now used 
by many California fruit growers as a matter of crop insur¬ 
ance. This evaporator consists of a long horizontal, or nearly hori¬ 
zontal chamber or tunnel, in which the fruit is placed for drying. 
A fan blows or draws air through a heating system at one end of the 
tunnel and forces the heated air through the drying chamber. The 
fan may be of the positive blower type, in which case the air heater 
and the fan are located at the same end of the evaporator ; or it may 
be the exhaust or suction type, in which case the air is drawn 
through the evaporator and the air heating system is located at the 
end opposite the fan. The exhaust fan is believed to produce a 
more uniform current of air throughout the length of the evaporat¬ 
or. Ventilators as a rule are connected with the tunnels to regulate 
the flow of air, also to permit the whole or partial re-circulation of 
the air, as this helps to regulate temperature and moisture, especial¬ 
ly at the beginning of the process. Re-circulation of a large part of 
the air in the. drying, conserves fuel and makes possible the regula- 


376 


RATIONAL DIET 


tion of the humidity of the air, which is a factor of great importance 
in fruits which tend to case-harden. Under average conditions, 
from five to eight times as much air is required for heat transfer 
as for moisture removal. It is often possible to return as much as 
75 per cent of the air to the heating chamber. Re-circulation has 
been successfully used in many dehydraters since 1920. 

The air heating system is often composed of steam coils over 
which the air is drawn or blown by a fan. The temperature of 
the air can be closely regulated by controlling the pressure or 
the amount of steam used. Another system in common use con¬ 
sists of a furnace and large flues enclosed in a fire-proof room, 
through which the air is drawn by a fan. This type of construc¬ 
tion is cheaper than that employing steam coils, but the steam¬ 
heating system has certain advantages, as the heat can be dis¬ 
tributed more evenly in the tunnels by means of steam pipes. 

Vacuum Evaporators are used in drying certain chemicals and 
substances easily injured by heat or air. Under a vacuum, evap¬ 
oration goes on at a lower temperature than under normal atmos¬ 
pheric pressure; fruit can be evaporated very rapidly at 100° F. 
in a vacuum evaporator. Oxidation by air, which takes place in 
ordinary evaporators, is very greatly reduced by this process; and 
consequently, a product of fresh flavor and appearance is made 
possible. This type of evaporator is not in general use because of 
the high cost of installation and the greater skill and experience 
that are necessary for its successful operation. 

The improved air blast tunnel dehydrater is the most practical 
and economical for fruit drying now used. In the process of 
dehydrating, two different systems of operation are generally util¬ 
ized. 

In the so-called “counter current system,” the fruit is intro¬ 
duced into moderately warm moist air (100° F. to 130° F.) 
and moved toward a region of warmer, drier air until the dry¬ 
ness is completed at 160° F. to 180° F. This system has its 
disadvantages, because, in finishing fruit with a low moisture con¬ 
tent at a high temperature, there is danger of caramelizing the 
sugars. For example, prunes and pears can be subjected to high 
temperature, when they still contain from 45 to 50 per cent of 
moisture, but when the moisture approaches within 20 per cent 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 377 

or less of the finished prunes the temperature cannot be safely 
over 150° F. 

In the so-called “parallel current system,” the fruit enters 
the air intake end of the drying compartment and is taken from 
the dehydrater at the air exhaust end. In other words, the dry¬ 
ing process is started in hot, dry air and is completed in warm 
moist air. The advantages of this system are found in the possi¬ 
bility of finishing the fruit at a low temperature (approximately 
150°F) to obtain a high degree of dehydrating efficiency without 
injury to the fruit. But this would mean that the temperature at 
the intake of the tunnel is 185° F. to 190° F., there being a fall 
of from 35 to 40 degrees in temperature of the air as it passes 
through the tunnel, due to the heat given off to the fruit and the 
absorption of moisture. This system works better in dehydrating 
small fruits like grapes, cherries, sliced or cubed apples, than 
prunes, apricots, pears and peaches. Prunes, especially, cannot 
be safely introduced at the high-temperature end of the tunnel 
if efficiency in drying is desired. If the cool fruit is suddenly 
subjected to a high temperature, the skin is hardened and rendered 
less permeable by the moisture from within, a circumstance which 
greatly retards evaporation. 

Charles C. Moore of San Francisco, formerly with the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, has combined the two systems in the 
Duplex Tunnel System, taking advantage of the good features in 
each, while avoiding their disadvantages. 



The Duplex-Tunnel Dehydrater is simply a double-tunnel 
drier in which the hot air blast moves in the same direction in 






































378 


RATIONAL DIET 


each tunnel, with an arrangement for transferring the cars of fruit 
from one tunnel to the other when at the high-temperature end 
of the drier. The cars of fruit are entered at the low-temperature 
end of one of the tunnels and moved toward the air blast, which 
is in effect, the “counter current system.” And when these same 
cars come to the high temperature end of the drier, while the fruit 
has yet a moisture content of about 50 per cent, they are trans¬ 
ferred to the adjoining tunnel, and returning through it, are moved 
toward the hot air blast and then toward the low-temperature end 
of the drier, as in the “parallel-current system.” 

In the Duplex-Tunnel system, the air is saturated with moisture 
in the in-going tunnel because the air flow is adjusted to provide 
for a complete saturation in this tunnel; the adjustable deflector, 
that divides the air blast as it leaves the blower, being set in a po¬ 
sition to allow more air to go into one tunnel than goes into the 
other. 

This principle of circulating the cars of fruit toward and 
away from the high-temperature end of the drier, means that the 
Duplex-Tunnel system admits the use of a higher temperature 
than can be employed, with safety, in any other tunnel system; 
and a basic principle in dehydration is that the higher the tempera¬ 
ture that can be safely used, the more economical is the operation, 
in respect to fuel consumption, per ton of fruit. 

In the Duplex-Tunnel system there is a larger percentage of 
the air recirculated than in any other system. This is due to the 
initial high temperature that is used, and to the saturation of the 
air in the tunnels, which may be as long as eighty feet. The 
cars loaded with fruit are moved by an endless cable operated by 
motor power and controlled by a lever at the entrance of the drier. 
By means of this cable, the cars are moved forward, transferred 
from one tunnel to the other, and brought back into the second 
tunnel; this brings a car of finished fruit from the drier at proper 
intervals of time, the intervals being at the rate of the drying 
period for a car of fruit. The operating expense per ton of fruit 
is no more than the cost of sun-drying the fruit, with the ad¬ 
vantage of making fruit drying independent of weather condi¬ 
tions, thus saving the fruit grower a great deal of worry and loss. 


DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


379 


The following illustration shows a small dehydrater constructed 
by the author, for the purpose of dehydrating small quantities of 
fruit and nuts for making nut butters, without subjecting them to 
a high temperature. The air can be recirculated wholly or partly 
and the temperature and moisture content regulated. The cost 
of operation is small. This dehydrater which can hold as much as 
500 pounds of fresh fruit is suitable for small fruit farms where the 
growers want to preserve fruits and vegetables for their own use. 

Although the sun-drying of fruits is a large and well-established 
industry in California, it is apparent to all who have seriously 
considered the matter, that dehydration offers a means of producing 
inexpensive dried fruits of new forms and in many cases of better 
quality than the usual sundried fruits. That this fact is being 
realized now by the fruit growers is shown by the increase of the 
dehydrating industry. In California alone over 200 dehydraters of 
various designs have been built since 1918. 

The time required for dehydrating fruits is only a small frac¬ 
tion of that required for sun-drying. Most of the fruits can be 
dehydrated in from eight to thirty hours, according to kind and 
size, while sun-drying requires from one to two weeks and often 
more, if weather conditions are unfavorable. 

Another great advantage of dehydration becomes apparent when 
it is compared with other methods of food preparation, such as 
canning and refrigeration. Not only can dehydrated fruits be 
produced and sold at a lower price than an equivalent quantity 
of canned fruits, but the great decrease in bulk and weight effects 
a tremendous saving in containers and warehouse charges. 

The difference between canned fruits, and dehydrated fruits, 
both from an economic and hygienic point of view, is seldom real¬ 
ized. For instance, a can of apricots retailing at 25 cents con¬ 
tains one pound of fruit and twelve ounces of syrup made from 
refined sugar. One pound of the best dehydrated apricots requires 
nearly seven pounds of fresh fruit and retails for about fifty cents. 
It furnishes, therefore, almost as much nutritive value as seven 
cans of apricots. The syrup, which is added in canned fruits 
contains about equal parts of refined sugar and water and is 
devoid of organic salts and vitamins, and adds nothing to the 
hygienic value of the fruit, but rather detracts from it. The proc- 


380 


RATIONAL DIET 


ess of sterilization disorganizes a part of the organic salts and 
destroys some of the vitamins. 

In six cans of apricots, exclusive of the syrup, there is no more 
real food value than in one pound of dehydrated apricots. Be¬ 
sides, the consumer has to pay for the cost of the syrup and can¬ 
ning, and also for the increased cost of transportation. 

Fruits and vegetables contain from 65 to 95 per cent water, 
which is increased by the liquid added in the canning process. One 
ton of apricots canned and cased weighs about 3,500 pounds, while 
a ton of apricots dehydrated and packed weights only 350 pounds. 
In other words canned apricots weigh ten times more than the 
same quantity of dehydrated apricots. The same ratio applies 
to most of the varieties of canned fruit. The great reduction in 
weight of dehydrated food products is of special importance in 
California because of its distance from both eastern and foreign 
markets. 

Despite these obvious advantages of dehydrated products, their 
sale is still restricted on account of their unattractive appearance 
and inferior quality, often the result of overheating. However, 
with the knowledge of scientific dehydration, food products can 
be made as attractive as the sundried article. Properly packed 
dehydrated products will keep well for years and are not susceptible 
to the spoilage, sometimes poisonous in nature, which occasionally 
occurs in canned and refrigerated foods. 

The greatest advantage of modern dehydration appears in the 
stabilization of crops and the conservation of food products. Under 
the present economic system, the farmer is frequently confronted 
with either a surplus or a famine. In years of plentiful crops 
the prices are low and there is not enough demand for the products. 
By proper dehydration the excess of the years of plenty can be 
stored up and sold later, when market conditions have improved. 

Dehydration reduces fresh vegetables and fruits from one 
fifth to one tenth of their original weight, and from one third to 
one half of their original bulk. Dehydration also solves the prob¬ 
lem of procuring inexpensive containers, for dehydrated products 
keep well in paraffined or parchment-lined pasteboard cartons, 
that is, if they are packed as soon as possible after they come from 
the dehydrator to prevent infection by insects. The following 



SMALL MODERN DEHYDRATER, DESIGNED BY THE AUTHOR 

Built of galvanized sheet iron and insulated by asbestos. Capacity, 
thirty trays; size, 24x36 inches; holding about 500 lbs. fresh fruit. Heated 
by means of a gas radiator. Distribution and recirculation of air carried 
on by means of a multiple fan, driven by % horse-power electric motor. 



THE “PROGRESSIVE EVAPORATOR,” now successfully used in the 
leading fruit growing districts of California, is an improved tunnel type plant 
with perfect regulation of temperature, air flow and humidity. 






























DEHYDRATION OF FOODS 


381 


table furnished by Professor Caldwell shows the yields of de¬ 
hydrated products per hundred pounds of fresh material. 


Apples, late autumn 
and winter vari- 


eties 

12 

to 15 lbs. 

Apples, summer 
varieties 

10 

to 12 

< < 

Apricots 

16 

to 18 

< < 

Blackberries 

16 

to 20 

< < 

Beets 

14 

to 17 

< i 

Cabbage 

8 

to 9 

< < 

Carrots 

10 

to 12 

< < 

Celery 

8 

to 9 

i < 

Cherries, pie 

17 

to 21 

< < 

Cherries, sweet 

22 

to 26 

< < 

Corn, sweet 

22 

to 33 

< < 

Figs 

18 

to 23 

< < 


Logan black- 


berries 

17 

to 

22 lbs. 

Onions 

9 

to 

11 

< < 

Parsnips 

20 

to 

22 

< t 

Peaches 

13 

to 

16 

< < 

Pears 

18 

to 

22 

<« 

Peas, garden 
(mature) 

22 

to 

25 

< < 

Potatoes, sweet 

30 

to 

35 

< < 

Potatoes, white 

20 

to 

23 

< < 

Prunes 

30 

to 

33 

< < 

Pumpkin 

6 

to 

8 

< < 

Raspberries 

17 

to 

23 

< < 

Squash 

7 

to 

9 


Tomatoes 

6% to 

9 

< < 

Turnips 

7 

to 

8 

< < 


Dehydration w r ill also be a most important factor in the con¬ 
servation of foods. It is estimated that over fifty per cent of the 
fruit and vegetables grown in the United States never reach the 
consumer, because of inadequate shipping facilities. It is re¬ 
ported, for instance, that in 1911 approximately 750,000 bushels 
of apples were wasted in the orchards of Oregon and Washington; 
and these could have been saved by dehydration. Frequently 
thousands of tons of vegetables are destroyed in order to keep up 
the price. There is no reason why these materials should not be pre¬ 
served by drying, thus making them available as human food. This 
destruction of surplus products is especially lamentable when 
millions are suffering for want of proper food. 


Furthermore, dehydration will make it possible for the farm¬ 
er to grow a better diversity of crops, and consequently there will 
be a good variety of the dehydrated vegetables and fruit, which 
are nearly equal in value to fresh foods, available to all classes of 
people throughout the year. 

Dehydration wdll also make the products of the tropics more 
accessible. Dehydrated bananas found much favor and a ready 
market in Central Europe under the name of banana figs. In 
fact, the demand exceeded the supply so long as the right quality 
was produced. If a perfect product is desired, selection of the 



382 


RATIONAL DIET 


right material is of the utmost importance. The small sweet ba¬ 
nanas are best suited for dehydration. They must be allowed to 
ripen thoroughly in the storage room until they have turned to 
golden yellow color. This is necessary as various layers of the 
same bunch ripen at different times. It is also important that 
bananas are picked at the right time and are not bruised. Over¬ 
ripe or unripe bananas will produce a poorly finished product. 

Copra, which is the commercial name for dried or dehydrated 
cocoanut, is already a great article of export from South America, 
the South Sea Islands, the Philippines and East India, and there 
is no reason why scientific dehydration and proper protection 
against insects should not bring many delicious tropical fruits 
within the reach of the inhabitants of the temperate zones, espe¬ 
cially since transportation facilities by means of fast steamers have 
also been improved. 

There is no doubt that dehydration, if done carefully accord¬ 
ing to well-established principles, is the best method of food con¬ 
servation, and, while dehydrated foods may not be equal in all 
particulars to fresh foods, they help to round out man’s dietary 
at times when the latter are not procurable. 


CHAPTER IX 


The New Agriculture 

Before the World War it was generally assumed that, because 
of our extended areas of agriculture and improved means of pro¬ 
duction and distribution, the world was practically immune from 
famine. Despite this belief, in the winter of 1921 twenty million 
human beings were dying of starvation in the Volga district. 
Within the last few years famine, war and disease have reduced 
the population of Armenia from six millions to two millions; the 
city of Petrograd, from two millions to three-quarters of a million; 
Poland has lost half her population, while a hundred million Chi¬ 
nese have suffered for lack of food. During the first quarter of the 
twentieth century, throughout Europe and Asia more than three 
hundred million people have approached the point of starvation. 

Is it not rather strange that in a world where within a gener¬ 
ation man has learned to talk on waves of ether through 10,000 
miles of space; to harness the power of air and water; to measure 
and analyze the stars a million light-years away, the leading au¬ 
thorities of the world’s universities have not yet advanced beyond 
the speculative period concerning how to protect mankind against 
famine ? 

Up to the present time man has scarcely begun to utilize the 
tremendous treasures stored in the deeper layers of the earth’s 
sub-soil. Most of the arable land is devoted to the superficial cul¬ 
ture of cereals, and in some countries, like the United States and 
Canada, by far the largest portion of the cultivated area is used 
not to feed man, but cattle. It has been shown in another chapter 
how costly and wasteful it is to live on the meat of animals which 
we have to feed, instead of deriving our sustenance directly from 
the products of the soil; and how, in the long run, the cultivation of 
cereals for human food alone is less profitable than scientific fruit 
culture. 

Eighty per cent of all cereals raised are needed for the main¬ 
tenance of live stock. Even in densely populated Germany 70 per 
cent of all the land under tillage is devoted to raising cereals; about 


383 


384 


RATIONAL DIET 


15 per cent to potatoes; 12 per cent to other kinds of vegetables, 
and only 3 per cent to fruit culture. In Great Britain, of the total 
area under tillage, cereals constitute 67 per cent; vegetables and 
legumes, 26 per cent; potatoes, 5 per cent, and fruit culture only 
2 per cent. In addition, these two countries have a very large pro¬ 
portion of their acreage in grass used for pasture grounds. Even 
now, in the United States, after the displacement of a large num¬ 
ber of farm animals by the automobile, the cultivation of fruit 
trees does not cover over two per cent of the area that is given over 
to the raising of cereals. 

Japan with an average population of 350 people per square mile 
is perhaps the best example of a country that has developed its agri¬ 
cultural resources, utilizing every arable acre. On an average, 
about five people, or a medium-sized family, gain their sustenance 
from the intensive culture of one acre. And yet in Japan rice and 
millet, soy beans, and vegetables are the main crops, while fruit 
culture is only of secondary importance. 

In his highly instructive book, “Farmers of Forty Centuries,’’ 
Professor F. H. King explains the mystery of China’s support of 
her millions, by giving an account of a visit to the farms of the 
densely populated province of Shantung. There every scrap of 
vegetable matter and excrement is saved and returned to the fields, 
which yield a harvest of wheat or barley in June, and later, aided 
by midsummer monsoon rains, a second crop, consisting principally 
of millet, corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts or soy beans, is harvested. 
One of the farmers in this province had a family of twelve people 
that he was maintaining on 2 y 2 acres of good farm land, keeping 
besides one milch cow (also used as a work animal), one donkey 
and two pigs. But not all of China is so densely populated, and 
the Chinese have by no means availed themselves of the resources 
at their disposal. 

In many parts of Belgium and France the market gardeners 
are at present demonstrating what intelligent and intensive horti¬ 
culture can produce. The small province of Flanders, in Belgium, 
where so many bloody battles were fought during the World War, 
is again becoming the market garden of England. Prior to the war 
one small community exported over 5,000 tons of first-class pota¬ 
toes and $20,000 worth of pears, while another supplied north¬ 
ern France and Brussels with strawberries. However, there is al- 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


385 


ways a tendency to employ too much stable manure and animal fer¬ 
tilizers to force the growth of fruits and vegetables, which make 
the work of the gardeners disagreeable and detracts very much 
from the nutritive and hygienic value of the products. 

In the immediate vicinity of Paris over 75,000 acres are used 
for the intense cultivation of vegetables, bringing returns as high 
as $1,200 per acre; while fruit culture is rapidly attaining an 
equally high state of development. About 1,250 acres are traversed 
at regular intervals with stone walls, especially erected for the 
growing of espalier, or wall fruits. On account of their southern 
exposure these walls, having an aggregate length of 400 miles, 
hasten the ripening of the fruit through increased solar heat 
by means of reflection of the heat waves from the stones. The av¬ 
erage yield from this acreage is about 3,000 tons. Several hundred 
acres are covered with pear trees, which yield three to four tons 
per acre. Likewise the city of Lyons, with a population of over 
half a million, is entirely supplied with vegetables and fruits by 
suburban gardeners. 

Through the erection of glass houses many gardeners defy the 
seasons by making their own climate. On the island of Jersey, in 
the English Channel, there is one establishment of greenhouses cov¬ 
ering thirteen acres that makes a specialty of raising grapes which 
ripen continuously from May to October; besides these, many vari¬ 
eties of vegetables are grown. The financial returns from these 
thirteen acres are equal to what an ordinary farmer by superficial 
culture of the soil would obtain from 1,300 acres. The island of 
Guernsey is equally famous for its greenhouses and its wonderful 
returns from a relatively small acreage. 

There are cases on record where enormous crops have been pro¬ 
duced by truck gardeners in tracts adjacent to large cities like 
Chicago and New York. In the market gardens of Florida 450 to 
600 bushels of onions, 400 bushels of tomatoes, and 700 bushels of 
sweet potatoes to the acre are frequently raised. D. L. Hartman, 
a Florida grower, a few years ago published the following facts 
and figures in the “Rural New Yorker”: 

“During one season the sales from one acre of early tomatoes 
amounted to $454; and from a trifle more than two and a half 
acres, including an acre of ‘earlies,’ the remainder mid-season and 


386 


RATIONAL DIET 


late plantings, the total sales amounted to over $900. From a little 
less than one acre and a half, $555 worth of strawberries were sold. 

In the city of San Jose, California, Calvin Miller has two Con¬ 
cord grape vines, planted in 1910, which now cover 5,000 square 
feet, forming a most beautiful arbor. The average yield from these 
two vines is about 2,000 pounds, which sell readily at 8<f per pound 
—equivalent to $1,300 per acre. 

Notwithstanding all this, the American farmer still appears to 
have a preference for cultivating large acreages for cereals, and 
cattle raising, rather than the intensive cultivation of a small 
acreage. It is now over three hundred years since the Pilgrims 
landed in North America. Subsequent to their advent the immi¬ 
grants who followed them have been assiduously engaged in fell¬ 
ing the forests to make room for surface agriculture, until now 
we have over 80 million acres of idle unproductive forest land,— 
an acreage equal to the combined states of New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania, or to that of England, Scotland and Wales. 

It is evident that cereals, which with flesh foods form the prin¬ 
cipal staple foods throughout the temperate zones, can only feed 
on the soil surface, leaving the deeper strata untouched. Figured 
acre per acre, cereal crops are much smaller than tree crops, and 
it remains for horticulturists and wise, farseeing law-makers to en¬ 
courage not only the replanting of the devastated forests with suit¬ 
able nut and fruit bearing trees, but also to reclaim over 600 mil¬ 
lion acres of swamp land by drainage, and 400 million acres of arid 
lands by irrigation, thereby making them suitable for the plant¬ 
ing of profitable trees—nature’s greatest food producers. 

From this point of view it is obvious that there is still suffi¬ 
cient room in America for many millions of intelligent immigrants 
who are willing to devote themselves to modern horticulture, under 
the guidance and with the financial assistance of the government. 

Unfortunately our present legislators do not take this point of 
view. During the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1921, we expended 
for the army and navy nearly two billion dollars, while only six 
per cent of this enormous amount, was appropriated for the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. Think what could be done for capable 
and industrious settlers, if the nation would expend in agricultural 
development what is wasted on war preparations. The w r ords <5 'i 
the Swedish statesman, Count Oxenstierna, who lived three cen- 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


387 


turies ago, ‘‘The world does not know with how little wisdom it 
is ruled! ’ ’ are equally true today. 

The planting of trees is also of great importance as a natural 
protection against the extreme changes of atmospheric tempera¬ 
ture and pressure. It is a well-established fact that trees purify 
the air and render the climate more equable, making it cooler in 
summer and warmer in winter. Thus in wooded districts, the rain¬ 
fall is more evenly distributed throughout the year than in other 
places, and storms, hurricanes and tornadoes are less frequent and 
less violent. The science of forestry clearly shows that we are di¬ 
rectly dependent upon forests for necessary rainfall, and that 
their destruction over a great portion of the earth has been fol¬ 
lowed by injurious consequences, such as floods and tornadoes. 

Fertility can be drawn from greater depths by the planting 
of trees than by any other crop, so that their culture is equivalent 
to gaining a larger area, and less artificial drainage is necessary. 
The roots of the trees are more capable than those of the smaller 
plants of utilizing the invisible compounds of the soil. 

Many plants and fruit trees unfortunately suffer from want of 
proper elements in the soil, and this accounts for frequent poor 
yields. Moreover, insufficiently nourished plants and trees fall a 
prey to diseases more quickly than the well fertilized and stronger 
specimens. Exhaustion of the soil is probably the cause of more 
failures in fruit crops than all other causes combined. Sweet and 
wholesome fruits of good keeping quality can be produced only 
from a soil that contains all the necessary elements for promoting 
the normal growth of all parts of the tree. In the production of 
the eight million tons of fertilizer that are used in the United 
States every year, special attention is given to only three constit¬ 
uents—nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid—elements that un¬ 
duly stimulate the growth of certain parts of the plants to the det¬ 
riment of others. Soda, lime, magnesia, iron and fluorine are 
equally important for the healthy growth of the plant or tree. 

During the first decade of the present century we witnessed 
the strange spectacle of thousands of American farmers crossing 
our northern border line and seeking cheap wheat lands in the 
bleak Canadian Northwest. Three outstanding causes appear to be 
responsible for this emigration from a land which was hardly set¬ 
tled, and whose immense areas are possessed of ideal climatic con- 


388 


RATIONAL DIET 


ditions: First, the speculative abuses of our land laws; second, 
the exhaustion of the soil by unintelligent farming; and, third, 
the waste by floods due to forest destruction. 

Farm life has become more or less unprofitable in the New 
England states, and the process of deterioration is affecting the farm 
lands of New York, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland and Virginia. It 
is said that in one of these states when a man sells his farm he 
gives away either the value of the building, or the value of the 
land, since the price is often less than would be required to replace 
the building. Very few farmers appear to be interested in the in¬ 
tensive, intelligent cultivation of land. 

Referring to this situation of American agriculture, and com¬ 
paring it with conditions in Europe, Professor J. Russell Smith, 
of Columbia University, has published an interesting article in the 
Review of Reviews, from which the following paragraphs are taken: 

‘ ‘ The Anglo-Saxon, with the level-land plow agriculture, 
brought from England, a land of gentle rain, entered the moun¬ 
tains, felled the fine trees of the rich forest, scratched the sloping 
earth with a plow and planted corn—corn, the great king crop 
of the level country,—the poorest crop of the hills. Before this 
mountain corn crop can ripen, it must be subjected to many rains. 
Unfortunately, the typical summer rain of the mountains is a 
tearing, pouring thunderstorm which lets loose on an acre of 
ground, one, two, three, and even four hundred tons of rushing 
water in a single hour. It is therefore natural that the earth 
should be washed away. After the earth has been deprived of its 
protection of forest and roots, the gashing and loosening by the 
plow and hoe seem to be a special preparation for its complete 
removal by the rushing waters. The light loamy soil which, if 
properly cared for, might nourish a thousand or ten thousand 
crops, is gone in a few seasons, and merely serves to choke the mead¬ 
ows below and to hinder navigation in the valley streams. 

“This hideous, frightful, bootless, ruthless waste does not 
seem to have even the excuse of enriching one generation of men. 
The process of corn growing is so laborious on this steep, stumpy, 
and often rocky new ground that the poor mountaineer gets only 
a meager crop. In the effort to get much money for little corn, 
he turns to the distillery to make corn whiskey. 

‘ ‘ Great is the contrast between these poor, uncomfortable whis¬ 
key cursed, law-breaking mountaineers of Appalachia and the com¬ 
fortable, prosperous inhabitants of similar, but less favored slopes 
in Corsica. I have traversed miles of mountain slopes in Corsica 
having the angle of a house roof. The slope was steep, but a good 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


389 


road wound in and out along its face. At intervals we passed 
through villages of substantial stone houses, with well built 
churches, well stocked stores, and often comfortable inns. The 
people were farmers who made their living from these slopes despite 
the house roof steepness. A genuine mountain agriculture has been 
developed, there, a tree agriculture which prospers without the 
plow and its attendant erosion. The tree can utilize the heat, light, 
moisture, and fertility of the mountain without imposing upon man 
the fearful and destructive task of plowing a place that was never 
meant for the plow. If, perchance, the mountain is so rocky that 
plowing is impossible, it makes no difference to the tree. It sticks 
its roots between the rocks and thrives, perhaps even the better, 
as rocks on the surface check evaporation and keep the moisture 
in the earth. 

‘‘I recall a region in northeastern Corsica where, except for a 
few breaks not over 100 yards each, I passed for fifteen miles 
through an open forest of chestnut trees, and every tree was grafted 
to a heavy yielding variety. These forests are really orchards, 
the sustenance of the people in the many villages. The chestnut 
is to them what corn is to the Appalachian mountaineer, and more, 
for does not a chestnut tree once established outlast two or three 
generations of men? There is always, so I was told, a crop, a 
large crop succeeding a smaller one, as is the case with many crop 
yielding trees. Time and again I was told in Corsica and France, 
by growers, merchants and government officials, that the average 
yield of a good mature chestnut orchard was from 2,000 to 3,000 
pounds of nuts per acre. 

“It is easy to see that a high value should attach to a tree that 
lives for a century or two, produces regularly of valuable crops 
without labor, and sells for much good money when it is finally 
felled. I was repeatedly told by reliable Corsicans in 1913 that 
while unplanted land has practically no value, these orchards are 
worth from $150 to $250 per acre/’ 

Equally enlightening is what Professor Smith writes about 
another island, situated a little west of Corsica. The article from 
which the following paragraphs are taken is entitled “Two Story 
Agriculture” and was published in The Century Magazine several 
years ago: 

“Approximately nine-tenths of the arable area of Majorca, one 
of the Spanish islands in the Mediterranean, is planted out to crop- 
yielding trees. That makes one-story agriculture. Then beneath 
the trees grain is grown. That makes the second story. For miles 
and miles in every direction that beautiful island is covered with 
continuous orchards of almonds, olive, figs and carobs, with oc¬ 
casional grafted oak-trees, the sweet acorns of which are prized as 


390 


RATIONAL DIET 


highly as the chestnut. This tree agriculture is nothing new, for 
many of these orchards are of unknown age, and some of them give 
evidence of having seen generations of men rise, dig awhile and die 
before Columbus sailed past on the way from Genoa to Gibraltar; 
and throughout all the years that the white man has striven in 
America, these same old olive and carob trees have been standing 
there, handing down their harvests of fruit and beans to the men 
who raised other crops at their feet—crops of wheat, oats, barley, 
beans and peas. 

“In the average case it works out that the grain crops pay 
the cost of the operation, and the tree crops come along and make 
the profits. The failure of the almonds, or the off years with the 
carobs or olives, therefore leave no deficits, and the years of good 
tree harvests are the years of a profit. If, as is at times the case 
in the best regulated lands, there is a shortage in the grain crop, 
it has more than an even chance of being equalized that same sea¬ 
son by the tree harvest. 

“The farmers of southwestern France annually send to the 
United States millions of pounds of choice Persian (so-called 
English) walnuts, and yet there are not ten orchards in the whole 
region. A French farmer gave me this explanation: ‘If we planted 
the trees in regular rows, close together, we could grow nothing be¬ 
tween them, for they cast a dense shade; but if we scatter them 
about the fields, there is plenty of light, and wheat will grow close 
to the trees.’ 

“One exceedingly intelligent French proprietor whose place 
I visited had applied this theory by planting all his fields with 
walnut trees ninety feet apart. Thirty years hence it will look 
like a great park that has been planted to grain, and as they ap¬ 
proach maturity, every one of his walnut trees will be making more 
human food than will be furnished by the meat from an acre of 
pasture. For years (before the war) the selling price of this 
French walnut tree’s harvest was more than the value of the meat 
produced by the acre of pasture, but no one can predict what prices 
will be during the one or two centuries that elapse while those 
walnut trees continue to shed their autumn nuggets of nutrition.” 

If the early settlers of the New England and Atlantic States 
had taken a lesson from their former neighbors in southern Europe, 
they would have planted walnut and chestnut trees in place of the 
American elm and maple. In this way they would have planted not 
only equally beautiful trees for shade and ornament, but the nu¬ 
tritious nuts would have furnished a regular source of excellent 
food, and, very frequently, a good income, not only for themselves 
but also for their descendants. We boast so much of our natural 
resources and advantages—and we are justified in doing so— 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


391 


and yet we have failed to avail ourselves of scarcely more than 
a small fraction of what we might possess; and the larger portion 
of our domains still await intelligent attention. There are millions 
of acres of mountain land within our borders unsuitable for cereals 
and yet adapted for different varieties of nut-bearing trees. 

Our roadsides could be planted as conveniently to nut bearing 
trees as to other kinds that do not produce any kind of food. A 
road ten miles long, planted to walnut and chestnut trees on each 
side, at intervals of forty feet, would furnish room for more than 
26,000 trees, as many as could be planted on 100 acres of land. In 
addition to eventually yielding a handsome yearly income, the 
valuable by-product of wood, of which there is an increasing 
scarcity, would be furnished. We are spending millions for im¬ 
ported foods that might easily and with larger profit be produced at 
home. To be sure the raising of tree crops involves a considerable 
expenditure of time in which no immediate financial returns are 
realized; and it is here that a wise government should give assis¬ 
tance, if it really has the welfare of the country at heart. 

A great initial step in the right direction was taken by the 
United States government in passing the Reclamation Act, June 17, 
1902. A national movement was organized and about one hundred 
million dollars invested by the Reclamation Service. The reclaim- 
able area west of the Rocky Mountains is estimated at 30 million 
acres, which in time, under intensive cultivation, will provide 
homes for several million families. The principal irrigation proj¬ 
ects west of the Rocky Mountains so far completed are; the Or- 
land project, in northern California; the Klamath project in south¬ 
ern Oregon; the Truckee-Carson project in Nevada; the Boise- 
Idaho project; the Salt River and Yuma projects in Arizona; to 
which may be added the privately irrigated Imperial Valley of 
Southern California, fitly called the “American Valley of the 
Nile.” More irrigation projects are still pending, of which the 
most important ever attempted is the Boulder project of the 
Colorado River. 

During the last thirty years California, through the develop¬ 
ment of her water resources, supplied by the eternal snows of the 
High Sierras, has become the leading fruit growing state of the 
world, and yet, considering her immense area of one hundred mil¬ 
lion acres, the proportion of land devoted to fruit culture does 


392 


RATIONAL DIET 


not exceed one per cent. California furnishes a fit illustration 
of how a state at first chiefly devoted to cattle raising, passes into 
cereal farming, and then, finally, to the more profitable cultiva¬ 
tion of fruits—all within the period of the memory of man. 

Both the Spanish and Mexican governments formerly made 
large land grants to encourage settlement. These were exclusively 
used as cattle ranches up to the time of the American occupation, 
when the exports consisted entirely of hides and tallows. Cali¬ 
fornia, once the Mecca of gold-seekers, has now become world-fa¬ 
mous for her orchards, whose annual products far outrank in value 
all the precious yellow metal ever taken from her soil. And still 
there are millions of acres now suitable for fruit growing, awaiting 
the arrival of intelligent settlers to supply the increasing demand 
for the most wholesome and nutritious products of the soil. The 
cultivation of cereals and the livestock and dairy industries are 
prominent, but the area devoted to them is gradually becoming 
smaller. Barley, wheat, oats and corn occupy less than two million 
acres; alfalfa, beets, hay, potatoes, etc., about two and a half mil¬ 
lion acres, which are necessary to feed the still numerous cattle. 

California, because of her natural climatic advantages, fertil¬ 
ity of soil and abundant water for irrigation, was favored by na¬ 
ture for fruit growing, as against the enormous climatic handicap 
imposed upon the fruit grower of every other state in the Union. 
It is not, therefore, too much to assume, that California will eventu¬ 
ally supply the fruit of the United States in ever increasing quan¬ 
tities, and, to a large degree, of those countries whose climatic 
conditions preclude successful fruit growing. 

Statistics reveal the surprising fact that within ten years the 
number of orchard trees in the United States, outside of California 
and Florida, has decreased about 40 per cent. According to the 
census of 1910 there were in orchards in the United States, outside 
of California, over 500 million trees, while the census of 1920 
showed less than 300 million trees. At the same time there is every 
indication that the people in the United States will give fruits 
a more prominent place in their dietary than ever before, as the 
nutritive and hygienic value of fruit is becoming more and more 
appreciated. This condition, will, in years to come, require every 
acre of land in California adapted to fruit growing. 

Despite these circumstances, many California fruit growers 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


393 


are fearing the possibility of over-production, especially with the 
unprecedented planting of trees during the last few years. As soon 
as the people begin to more fully realize the injuriousness of arti¬ 
ficial sweets, and the fact that the daily use of fruits is essential 
for the attainment of health, the consumption will increase enor¬ 
mously and disperse every fear of over-production, especially as the 
population of the United States is constantly increasing. 

California’s area is about 7,000 square miles larger than that 
of Japan, yet her population is less than four millions, whereas 
the “Flowery Kingdom” sustains a population of nearly sixty 
millions. Under intensive cultivation, California could support fif¬ 
ty million people, or at least ten times more than it does now, 
besides supplying the larger part of the United States with fresh 
and dried fruits. 

The world’s population has tripled within the last 150 years, 
and, considering the present rate of increase, there should be more 
than 3,000 million people living on this planet at the end of the 
twentieth century. By employing modern methods of agricul¬ 
ture, and horticulture, this large number would be able even now 
to find more than ample room and sustenance in the temperate 
zones. And then there remains the tropical area, a source of almost 
fabulous wealth, in comparison to which the resources of the tem¬ 
perate zones sink into insignificance. 

One of the remarkable examples of what can be raised on well 
cultivated soil, even in a cold climate, is furnished by the fruit-col¬ 
ony “Eden” near Oranienburg, in the Province of Brandenburg 
(Prussia). There in the course of a few years, under the most un¬ 
favorable conditions, by a small number of energetic and intelli¬ 
gent men, a sandy desert has been converted into valuable fruit land 
which now produces enough, not only to furnish the colony with am¬ 
ple nourishment, but also to supply a number of stores in Berlin, 
while the members and their families enjoy health and independence. 

In 1798 Mai thus published his famous essay on “Principles of 
Population,” at the end of a century of devastating wars for the 
possession of land, when production and distribution of foods 
were still carried on in a very primitive way. The Malthusian 
theory was based upon the theory that population, when unchecked, 
multiplies more rapidly than the means of subsistence. Malthus 
of course had no vision of the coming age of steam and electricity; 


394 


RATIONAL DIET 


of the wonderful progress of our means of production and distri¬ 
bution by steamships, railways, automobiles and aeroplanes; of 
the great advancement of agricultural chemistry and the science 
of nutrition—in other words, Malthus derived his ideas from the 
appalling stupidity of men, who have to go through famine and 
war in order to establish a balance between food supply and pop¬ 
ulation. 

Even as late as December, 1920, two years after the World 
War, the New York Times published the following item: 

“Boston, December, 1920.—The United States will have a popu¬ 
lation of 197,000,000 people (the maximum which its continental 
territory can sustain), about the year 2100, Professor Raymond 
Pearl, of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 
estimated in a Lowell Institute lecture last night. 

“ ‘To support such a population,’ he said, ‘260 trillion calories 
of food a year would be needed, and judging from production of the 
last seven years when the maximum population was reached, it 
would be necessary to import about half the calories necessary for 
sustenance.’ ” 

Of course, this estimate is based on our present wasteful meth¬ 
ods of agriculture and on irrational theories of nutrition. Even 
with the intensive culture of a mere fraction of the total area 
now under cultivation the United States could comfortably sup¬ 
port several hundred millions more people. 

If the cultivation of cereals were abandoned, nut crops with 
their large yield per acre, at less expenditure of labor, would fur¬ 
nish more of the food essentials than are now obtained from grain 
crops. Famine occurs in grain growing rather than in fruit and 
nut growing districts. Nut trees may be grown upon almost every 
habitable acre in temperate and tropical zones and their distribu¬ 
tion is made easy by the fact that nuts are not perishable like 
flesh foods and vegetables, and there is plenty of time for gathering 
the crop. 

It has been estimated that the total amount of solar energy 
stored in plants each year is twenty-two times greater than the 
amount of energy represented by the coal consumed during the same 
period of time. About 67 per cent of this plant energy is taken 
up by the forests; 24 per cent by cultivated plants; 7 per cent by 
grass of the steppes and prairies, and 2 per cent by the plants of 
desert lands. The energy received by forests yearly is fourteen 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


395 


times greater than the energy of coal used during the same period. 
Unfortunately, the largest forests are mainly in the tropics. In 
temperate regions the forests are being depleted in about the same 
proportion as the coal supply is being exhausted. 

While we have made such great strides in industry, in many 
civilized countries intensive agriculture and horticulture, and above 
all, the scientific nutrition of man have not yet received the serious 
study which they deserve. 

In his interesting and instructive book on “Nut Growing’’ 
Robert T. Morris very pointedly says, in part: 

‘ ‘ Our agriculture in North America represents a tradition from 
level lands and dating back to the days of savages when men had 
to devote most all of their time to killing each other along with 
other large and small game, while women raised small annual 
crops of grains. In those days the kaleidoscopic shifting of tribes 
was inimical to tree culture but fitted better into the cultivation 

of annual plants. Tradition in agriculture has meamt wicked 

waste of opportunity in America and it is now time for us to 
awaken to the situation and teach the old world what may be done 
with our new agriculture upon nut tree crops. (The italics are 
mine.) 

“Japan appears to be crowded because of agricultural thought- 
habit. Japanese chestnuts, heartnuts and pinenuts would furnish 
a better balanced food ration than common rice diet. The physical 
strength of the people would be increased in the course of a single 
generation on a nut diet. North American nut trees and nut bear¬ 
ing annual plants would thrive in Japan, furnishing a luxurious 
range in qualities of food besides supporting a population many 
times greater than that of Japan today. This country might in¬ 
crease its national wealth by exporting nut crops to other countries. 

“Japanese scientists, ranking among the highest in the world, 
know very well how Japan might set an example for all civilization 
if battleship money were to be turned over to agricultural educa¬ 
tional institutions. Thus would a proud people have justification 
for a pride based upon pragmatic results of application of keen 
intelligence to the food question. 

“It is said that a machine victory is the only possible victory 
over the land in these days when there is an increasing tendency 
for men to leave the land and go to the cities, but the tree is a 
machine. So is the annual plant a machine, for that matter, but 
the tree is a machine that is working day and night with less at¬ 
tention required from man than the annual plant requires. (The 
italics are mine.) 

“Agricultural experts in our colleges can make people believe 
that we have enough land to supply food, but the question is one 



396 


RATIONAL DIET 


of distribution of knowledge which should be a function of the 
state. Not only may abandoned farms be made more profitable 
tomorrow than they were when at their best yesterday, but many 
of the so-called waste lands may be made to produce more food than 
has been commonly produced by soil of first choice. Even the 
swamp lands hold out an attractive feature for the producer who 
finds joy in new fields calling for a wider range of his keen interest 
and knowledge. 

“ According to the 1914 report from our Department of Agri¬ 
culture, forty per cent of the land in the United States is non- 
tillable. Aside from the non-tillable land which consists of swamps 
in which food might be raised profitably, a very large percentage of 
the entire acreage on higher ground already carries tree or brush 
crops for which we may substitute food-bearing nut trees and 
shrubs. There is but a small percentage of this untillable land, 
excepting that on bleak, barren mountain tops, which cannot be 
made to raise nut crops more valuable than most of the crops which 
are raised upon the tillable land in the State. Only twenty-seven 
per cent of the land in the United States is actually under culti¬ 
vation, but if we follow the same (wasteful) methods of plant and 
stock raising in the future it will not be long before one hundred per 
cent is occupied. As a matter of fact, intensive cultivation of 
twenty per cent of the tillable land now occupied could he made 
to produce so much more than it does under present methods that 
we need have very little anxiety about the need for bringing one 
more acre of tillable land under cultivation with ordinary crops 
for some time to come. (The italics are mine.) 

“One may ride for mile after mile upon the railroads through 
old settled parts of New York and New England and see on every 
side wornout sheep pastures supporting many woodchucks and 
grasshoppers, that could be made to yield good income. On some 
of the western prairies one may look clear to the horizon and see 
only French weed, thistles and wild mustard, where once was corn 
and waving grain—the land now practically abandoned because 
farmers would not change their crops or do subsoil plowing. 
While this state of things remains it is all wrong to open up more 
unimproved land. We are simply increasing competition between 
men engaged in the lower planes of agriculture. . . . 

“Is there a deserted hillside sheep-pasture in the east or a mus¬ 
tard prairie in the middle west that cannot be made to grow one 
hundred dollars’ worth of nuts per acre annually? Probably not. 

“The attempt to raise corn and other grain crops on the Appa¬ 
lachian hillsides has been extremely destructive because of soil 
erosion following in localities, whereas nut tree crops would have 
given much larger incomes from the same land, with the avoidance 
of erosion and exhaustion of the soil. The deserted farmlands of 
the eastern states would not be deserted, but would be yielding 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


397 


larger permanent incomes if tree crops of grafted acorns, hicko¬ 
ries, beeches, hazels and black walnuts had been planted where 
now the ground is occupied by chipmunks and sumac. 

“Thousands of square miles of hilly land that are now being 
gullied as a result of raising meagre crops of annual plants may be 
put into tree-crops and saved. Lands that are level or moderately 
rolling are the only ones in this country that we can afford to devote 
to crops of annual plants. The loss of land in hilly districts con¬ 
cerns not only the people of today, but the generations of tomorrow 
as well. 

‘ ‘ A great development of cereals took place as a result of experi¬ 
mental work during the nineteenth century, but the twentieth 
century is signalized by the sudden emergence of nut culture. 
There are several reasons for this unexpected event: 

“1. Shortage of farm labor due to decreasing birthrate and 
increase of movement toward urban life came acutely to our at¬ 
tention in the early years of 1900. 

“2. Nut trees produce more food essentials in proteins, oils, 
and starches per acre than are furnished by ordinary field crops. 

“3. Nut crops require less labor in cultivation, or for har¬ 
vesting the crops. The trees may live and bear for more than a 
century, sometimes without apparent reduction of the fertility of 
the soil in which they grow. Difficulties which formerly stood in 
the way of successful propagation of nut trees have been done away 
with to such an extent that almost any boy or girl may do grafting 
work of the sort which defeated the efforts of expert horticulturists 
two or three years ago. 

“Nut cultivation belongs to what has been called permanent 
agriculture. The meaning of the expression is clear. Transitory 
agriculture might be the opposite term as applied to rotation of 
annual plants. A tree does not exhaust the soil as a rule, while 
transitory agriculture regularly exhausts the soil unless fertilizers 
and methods of cultivation are employed with a higher degree of 
intelligence than is commonly in evidence. The profitable employ¬ 
ment of fertilizers in crop rotation demands knowledge of such 
high order that comparatively few farmers are prepared to avail 
themselves of what is known on the subject. Permanent agricul¬ 
ture on the other hand will allow a very much larger number of 
people to furnish foodstuffs with a comparatively small equip¬ 
ment of information. 

“An acre of land devoted to wheat may produce nearly ten 
times as much protein as the same acre devoted to pasturage for 
beef cattle. An acre of land devoted to nuts may be made to pro¬ 
duce a still larger amount of food protein than is to be obtained 

from this wheat which in turn, had excelled the beef acre. 

The average number of food units per pound furnished by the more 



398 


RATIONAL DIET 


common varieties of nuts is three thousand and thirty-one calories, 
while the average of the same number of varieties of cereals is six¬ 
teen hundred and fifty-four calories. The average value of the 
six principal flesh foods is eight hundred and ten calories per 
pound, or one-fourth that of the nuts. 

“Although we are prone to speak of protein as a unit food sub¬ 
stance, proteins from different food products vary largely in char¬ 
acter. Nuts furnish proteins of such fine quality that they supply 
the elements necessary to render more complete the proteins of 
cereals and other vegetable foods. They are free from waste 
products such as uric acid, urea and creatinin which are contained 
in flesh foods. Furthermore, nuts are nearly aseptic and free from 
bacteria of putrefaction which abound in meat. 

“From an economic standpoint the raising of nuts has a great 
advantage over the raising of meat. One hundred pounds of food 
fed into a steer produce less than three pounds of food in the form 
of flesh. We must feed the steer thirty-three pounds of corn in 
order to get back one pound in the form of steak. (The italics are 
mine.) 

“Milk and eggs furnish much the same protein as that furnished 
by meat, but milk and eggs are rapidly increasing in price. Every 
pound of food in the form of milk requires feeding a cow five 
pounds of food. For every pound in the form of eggs we must 
supply nearly twenty pounds of food. At the present time the 
price of nuts is also high, but that is because the demand has not 
been met by the supply. Looking into the future we may state that 
the possibilities of raising food more cheaply by the cultivation of 
nuts are greater than the possibilities of raising food more cheaply 
by dairy farming. In this connection it is interesting to note that 
one pound of walnut meats equals in food value five pounds of 
eggs (40), nine and a half pounds (or pints) of milk, or four 
pounds of beef loin. Each acre of walnut trees in good bearing 
will produce every year food approximating twenty-five hundred 
pounds of beef, thirty-five hundred quarts of milk and one and a 
half tons of mutton. 

“Aside from such prosaic considerations as those of food supply, 
interest in trees belongs to a higher order than interest in potatoes, 
oats and hay. There is more inspiration in a tree than in an annual 
plant because the tree is an object lesson of highly organized forces, 
more stable and permanent than those of annual plants. The larger 
love which men seem to have instinctively for trees will elevate 
standards of agriculturalists who deal with them.” 

Agriculture and horticulture are yet in their infancy; the 
small farmer is portrayed as “the man with a hoe” or bending 
dejectedly over a plough, the epitome of drudgery and toil. In 
the not far distant future, we shall enjoy the inspiration of an 


THE NEW AGRICULTURE 


399 


entirely different picture. The cultivator of the soil will stand 
erect with head unbowed. A few hours 7 devotion each day to the 
prosecution of rational farming will furnish sufficient food for 
the nourishment of his family, and an ample surplus for the 
market. The man who merely toils never makes much progress. 
He must combine love of nature with a desire to make the very 
best of his opportunities—to live the simple and useful life, and 
yet enjoy, by cooperating with his fellow men, all the advantages 
of modern civilization. This is the spirit of the New Agriculture, 
the initial stepping-stone to a better civilization that assumes 
the health and happiness of the individual to be paramount to all 
other considerations. 

Sampson Morgan, the English pioneer of the New Agriculture, 
writes in his book “New Soil Science 77 : 

“I contend that by living the simple life in the fruit field, a 
man can fully depend on satisfying every reasonable want 
through an acre of land if needs be. With a few acres, comparative 
comfort can be secured. It should not be forgotten that from the 
area occupied by twelve dwarf trees alone, twelve bushels of fruit 
can be procured each year. There is thus ample space left for 
producing sufficient products for sale even if only one acre of land 
is taken in hand. From a few trees of really good eating apples 
and other kinds, a full supply of these fruits can be assured almost 
all the year round. Fresh fruits can readily be grown and enjoyed 
in this country (England) from one year’s end to another. By 
the improved system, giant fruits and berries, which will command 
a limitless sale at good profits, can be produced by anyone having a 
liking for the work after a little experience. 

“Perfect fruit alone can meet the demands of the human sys¬ 
tem; perfect fruit alone can stimulate the intellect; perfect fruit 
alone can control the feverish activity of the arterial pulsations 
which, aided by the consumption of inflammatory foods and drinks, 
wear out the human machine long before its natural time. Physi¬ 
cally and intellectually, the coming race can best be perfected by 
being moulded under the magical influences which exist in the 
fruit field and in the fruit field alone. 7 7 

For health and delight, the garden and the orchard are the 
universal and supreme ideal of man. In every normal human being 
there is the constant yearning for the day when he may own an acre 
of land and plant it with trees that blossom and bear fruit. This 
love of country and orchard is the one abiding memory of an almost 
forgotten paradise. How beautiful is the sight of an orchard with 


400 


RATIONAL DIET 


its blooming trees sending their roots deep down into the soil, 
drinking in the heavenly light, with its millions of blossoms, bring¬ 
ing forth the luscious fruits in which the hidden treasures of the 
earth and the life-giving forces of the sun are so wonderfully com¬ 
bined! 

Man, after all, will cling to the land, he will see that it is 
the earth which nourishes him best, and like the giant Antaeus, he 
will ever have need to touch it, to feel it beneath his feet, in order 
to renew his strength. The time must surely come when science 
and the cooperation of mankind will have cultivated the earth to 
such a degree of perfection that it will bring happiness and 
contentment to all. Then the shadows of disease, famine, murder 
and war will disappear from our planet like the mists of dawn 
before the radiant light of the rising sun. 


CHAPTER X 

Stimulants, Narcotics and Condiments 

It is a most significant fact that hand in hand with the increas¬ 
ing consumption of devitalized and demineralized foods, the use 
of stimulants and narcotics, such as alcohol, spices, tobacco, coffee, 
tea, cacao, coca, kola, etc., has assumed such proportions that it 
may well be considered one of the most serious sociological prob¬ 
lems. If through lack of the important organic salts, the body is 
undernourished, it becomes easily fatigued because of insufficient 
oxidation and elimination, and a craving for something to stim¬ 
ulate the declining vital forces is easily acquired. 

While our modern system of commercialism with its highly 
improved methods of production and distribution has accomplished 
much good, it has also brought within the reach of the masses 
the thousands of varieties of artificially prepared foods and stim¬ 
ulants whose exponents, through the medium of shrewd adver¬ 
tising, have been untiring in their efforts to establish belief in 
their efficiency and usefulness. 

The indiscriminate and habitual use of stimulants and narcotics 
gradually deadens the natural sensations, induces the retention 
of waste matter in the system, awakens a false desire for food, 
and finally ruins all power of discrimination. The craving of 
the nerves becomes abnormal, while natural food flavors appear 
insipid or are even despised. Modern cookery, in its attempt to 
satisfy perverted appetite, is responsible to a large degree for these 
deplorable conditions. 

The amount spent for stimulants and narcotics throughout the 
world every year probably equals the sum that the World War 
cost the United States—about twenty-four billion dollars. How¬ 
ever, the most appalling and irreparable loss induced by these 
nerve poisons, comes through impaired health, which reveals itself 
in enervation, lessened physical and mental efficiency, diseases 
of the heart and respiratory system, and premature death. 


401 


402 


RATIONAL DIET 
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 


Alcohol, per se, has no place in the vital economy of the body, 
and the theory that it has food value has been exploded for some 
time. During the process of the fermentation of fruit or vege¬ 
table juices, their sugar is converted into about equal parts of 
alcohol and carbonic acid. Alcohol being a product of decompo¬ 
sition cannot impart any actual force or energy to the body, 
but on the contrary, is a poisonous substance, a destroyer of the 
life protoplasm, and a dangerous stimulant to the nervous system. 
Naturally, the higher the percentage of alcohol in a beverage the 
more injurious it is to the life of the vegetable or animal cell. 

Distilled liquors, containing 50 per cent or more of alcohol, 
are prescribed in small quantities as a medicine, but with no 
more justification than the recommendation of other drugs. It 
has been demonstrated by a series of experiments that alcohol 
does not burn up in our organs, but merely passes through the 
system, lodging for the time being in the nerve centers, where it 
creates excitement or intoxication, and is in turn slowly eliminated 
by the skin, lungs or kidneys, or at the most, only oxidized in a 
very small proportion in the form of aldehyde. 

From an economic point of view, the manufacture of alcoholic 
beverages is a most tremendous waste of good food material, 
especially of wholesome fruits. In the wine producing countries, 
notably around the Mediterranean Sea, an enormous quantity of 
grapes is practically destroyed every year by fermentation in the 
production of wine and brandy. According to statistics, the 
world’s annual output of the fermented and distilled juice of the 
grape averages 5,000 million gallons, which contain 8 to 12 per 
cent alcohol. The volume of the latter in one gallon is about 
one pint, which involves the destruction of two pounds of fruit 
sugar. Thus the total amount of natural wholesome sugar lost 
in the making of wine alone is ten billion pounds, or nearly five 
million tons every year. 

The world’s annual output of commercial sugar is constantly 
increasing, and now amounts to about twenty million tons, while 
about half of this amount is turned into alcohol by the production 
of fermented and distilled liquors. How preposterous it is, then, 
to destroy the natural fruit sugar by fermentation, and at the 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


403 


same time, by chemical and mechanical processes, to extract from 
beets and sugar cane an artificial and demineralized product! 

The destruction of cereals in the breweries and distilleries is 
equally enormous, and the waste of food material can only be 
imagined by those who have closely studied the subject. Up to 
1919 in the United States alone, more than 100 million bushels 
of cereals and potatoes were annually used in the production of 
alcoholic beverages. On the banks of the Ohio and Illinois rivers 
numerous distilleries were engaged in converting into whisky suf¬ 
ficient cereals to supply at least three such cities as Greater New 
York with bread, and give a feast to all the needy on earth. In 
Europe immense droves of swine are still fed and fattened on the 
offal of such establishments, and the scrofulous pork resulting 
therefrom is sent into cities to engender disease. 

There are still many who advocate the use of light alcoholic 
beverages in place of the stronger ones, claiming that civilized 
man must have a stimulant, and that w r ine and beer have been 
used for thousands of years. Taking into account only historically 
established facts, we have good reason to believe that the use of 
alcoholic beverages originated comparatively late in the evolu¬ 
tionary march of the human race, and that it hardly extends over 
6,000 years. The ancient civilization whose poets have chanted 
the praises of wine and worshipped at the shrine of Bacchus, have 
crumbled into dust and their descendants are but shadows of 
their early progenitors who before' founding their empires led a 
natural life. The fact that a custom is time honored, does not 
justify its continued existence. Acquired and ingrained habits 
are hard to give up, and the victim readily finds an excuse for 
his persistence in using them. 

Alcoholic stimulants so permeate all phases of social life, espe¬ 
cially in Europe, that one can scarcely conceive of a festive affair 
devoid of them in one form or another. Upon entering an eating 
house in Europe the guest is first presented with a wine card, 
and interrogated as to what he will have to drink. A negative 
reply evokes surprise and even disdain, as it is the custom to spend 
at least as much for alcoholic beverages as for food. In France— 
the wine-drinking country par excellence —a bottle of wine is gen¬ 
erally included in the price of a dinner, which would not be con¬ 
sidered perfect without it. Indeed, so strongly has the wine 


404 


RATIONAL DIET 


drinking habit taken possession of the French people that the aver¬ 
age per capita consumption is forty gallons per year. About one- 
sixth of the population of France is engaged in the cultivation of 
the grape and the manufacture of wine, so that the commercial 
prosperity of that country depends upon the sale of the products 
of its millions of acres of vineyards. 

Italy, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Southern Russia, Algeria, 
South Africa, Chili and Argentina produce enormous quantities 
of wine, which has become a national drink in many of these 
countries and supplies a large percentage of the internal revenues. 
In fact, most civilized countries depend upon the manufacture and 
sale of alcoholic beverages as one of the principal revenues. 

Considering these conditions in the light of human welfare 
and progress, we cannot deny that one of the most important prob¬ 
lems confronting human society today is the increasing consump¬ 
tion of intoxicating liquors, which is one of the fundamental causes 
of the mental and physical degeneration of man. Statistics show 
that before the World War the United States, Great Britain, 
France, Germany and Russia, each spent annually an average of 
one billion dollars for alcoholic beverages. 

There must be some deeper cause for these deplorable condi¬ 
tions than merely acquired customs and habits, and we must look 
for this in the irrational and impoverished diet of the majority of 
people. It has been truly said that cooks make more drunkards 
than brewers, wine makers, and distillers. The relation of diet 
to intemperance is well worth our most careful and earnest con¬ 
sideration. Temperance reformers should bear in mind that the 
craving for alcoholic beverages, or other stimulants, goes hand in 
hand with the increasing consumption of devitalized foods, spices, 
condiments, table salt, and consequent overeating, which lowers 
vitality and causes the retention of toxins. This abnormal con¬ 
dition, intensified by the enervating struggle imposed on all civil¬ 
ized nations by modern commercialism, lays the foundation for 
habitual craving for stimulants and narcotics in one form or 
another. The prohibitionists are prone to make alcohol the scape¬ 
goat of all evils, but they will never achieve any permanent suc¬ 
cess with their one-sided efforts without removing the real causes. 
Since the passing of the Volstead Act in the United States the drug¬ 
stores do an increasing business in all kinds of preparations that 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


405 


contain a “nerve tonic” in the form of alcoholic beverages. In the 
manufacture of a well known patent medicine 250 barrels of 
alcohol are used weekly, and most of the nostrums constantly ad¬ 
vertised all over the country contain from 20 to 25 per cent of 
alcohol, in addition to nerve deadening drugs. 

True temperance reform must go hand in hand with diet reform. 
A simple and frugal diet, combined with regular exercise in the 
open air will gradually purify the system from waste poisons and, 
to a large degree, lessen the craving for alcoholic beverages. 

COFFEE 

Coffee, next to alcohol, is one of the most universally used stim¬ 
ulants. Since the seventeenth century, when the Dutch traders 
brought coffee from Arabia, Upper Egypt and Abyssinia into the 
East Indian colonies, then to western Europe, the use of coffee 
has spread over the entire world. The consumption has increased 
continuously, especially during the nineteenth century. The three 
countries, England, France, and Germany, now consume about 
500 million pounds annually. 

The coffee plant (coffea arabica) is an evergreen tropical shrub. 
The leaves bear at their axil the berry-shaped and elongated red 
fruits, containing two seeds. These seeds or berries are separated 
from the endocarp, and after they are washed and sun-dried, 
form the green coffee beans of commerce. In this shape the ber¬ 
ries are of a hard consistency, almost tasteless, but after being 
roasted at a temperature of about 450° degrees F., essences develop 
from the destruction of the soluble principles and dissolve in the 
oily bodies which impregnate the caramelized cellulose and sac¬ 
charine matter. The chemical analysis of unroasted coffee shows 
an average of 12 per cent water; 14 per cent nitrogenous matter; 
14 per cent fat and oils; 33 per cent cellulose; 10 per cent sac¬ 
charine matter and dextrin; 4 per cent mineral matter; traces of 
fragrant oil, and 1 to 2 per cent of caffein, partly combined with 
a special tannic acid. Caffein, which is the active alkaloid prin¬ 
ciple of the berry, is not appreciably modified by roasting. It 
temporarily increases the temperature of the internal organs, while 
at the same time it reduces the temperature of the skin. In moderate 
doses it stimulates the heart’s action, and causes a rise of the 
arterial pressure by contraction of the little peripheral vessels. 


406 


RATIONAL DIET 


In stronger doses it depresses the nervous system and cerebral 
centers. In its stimulating effects caffein therefore resembles al¬ 
cohol, and its abuse leads to serious troubles of the circulatory 
system and muscular enervation. 

It is not surprising that under the strain of the present com¬ 
petitive system, the consumption of coffee and tea has rapidly in¬ 
creased within the last ten years, and although these drinks are 
not quite so injurious as alcoholic liquors, if taken only occasion¬ 
ally and in moderate quantities, nevertheless they exert an in¬ 
jurious influence upon the nervous system, due to the amount of 
alkaloids present. 

According to the American Food Journal, the per capita con¬ 
sumption of coffee in the United States has steadily increased for 
many years. The average consumption in 1921 was about 12^4 
pounds per capita against an average of slightly less than five 
pounds per capita in the decade ending with 1870; 8*4 pounds 
per capita in the period 1891-5; 9% pounds per capita in the 
period of 1906-1913; and coffee consumption has averaged since 
the beginning of the World War over 10 pounds per capita, advanc¬ 
ing to 12 y< 2 . pounds in 1921. Approximately one-half of the coffee 
produced in the w T orld is consumed in the United States. In fact, 
coffee has become our national beverage. 

Taking into consideration the large number of infants and 
children that drink little or no coffee, it seems reasonable to sup¬ 
pose that the coffee consumption by adults is fully double the 
amount named, or not less than 25 pounds per year. Now, assum¬ 
ing that average coffee contains 1 per cent of caffein (some coffee 
contains more) this would give to each coffee drinker an average 
of 5 grains of caffein per day (more than two medicinal doses 
such as surgeons give to patients suffering from shock, to raise 
the blood pressure), certainly an adequate cause for the increase 
in the number of persons suffering from high blood pressure, and 
diseases of heart and arteries. 

If the use of coffee continues to increase at the present ratio, 
it will, in the not distant future, become as great a source of 
injury to the American people as alcohol. Many drinks dis¬ 
pensed at soda fountains contain a considerable amount of caf¬ 
fein. 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


407 


TEA 

Tea, like coffee, is now used to a greater or lesser extent in 
most countries. It is an infusion of the rolled and dried leaves of 
the thea sinensis, a shrub that has been cultivated in China and 
Japan for thousands of years. The stimulating principle of tea is 
them, an alkaloid, resembling caffein. The quality of the various 
kinds of tea depends upon the time the leaves are picked and on 
the treatment to which they are afterward subjected. Tea gathered 
in the spring is considered the best. Green tea is made from the 
first leaves of the year which are dried and slightly heated soon 
after they are picked. Black tea is submitted to a slight fer¬ 
mentation before being dried. Then it is re-heated several times 
upon metal plates. 

Green teas generally contain more thein than black teas, which 
have about two per cent. According to Dr. Koenig the average 
composition of tea is as follows in per cent of the total: 


Water 

9.51 

Gum and Dextrin 

6.45 

Nitrogenous matter 

24.50 

Tannin 

15.65 

Thein 

3.58 

Pectins 

16.02 

Essential oil 

0.68 

Cellulose 

11.58 

Resines, chlorophyll 


Mineral matter 

5.65 

and fats 

6.39 




An infusion of tea made with boiling water, standing about five 
minutes, contains about one-third of the soluble matters of the 
leaves. 

The consumption of tea in the United States is much less than 
that of coffee, being a little more than one pound per capita 
yearly. The consumption of the beverage is much larger in Eng¬ 
land, where it amounts to about 6 pounds per capita. Tea is the 
national beverage in all oriental countries. 

A cup of tea of about 4 ounces does not contain more than 
6 grains of soluble substances, and one-half grain of thein; also 
traces of xanthin. Tea leaves contain a considerable amount of 
tannin which is partly combined with thein. The organic salts 
consist chiefly of phosphate of potash, lime, magnesia and man¬ 
ganese. 

While tea and coffee are not as injurious as alcoholic beverages, 
their habitual use will affect the heart and blood vessels and 
increase blood pressure. The danger of caffein and thein lies in 


408 


RATIONAL DIET 


the fact that they destroy the sense of fatigue, without imparting 
any vital energy, thus gradually leading to enervation. 

KOLA 

Kola is a stimulating beverage made from the seeds of the 
kolanut, the product of a tropical tree (cola acuminata). The nut 
itself is highly prized as a condiment by the natives of Africa, the 
West Indies, and Brazil. The average composition of ten vari¬ 
eties of kolanuts is as follows: 


Water 

Nitrogenous 

matter 

13.50 per cent 

1.53 44 “ 

Cellulose 

Tannin 

Other non-nitrog- 

7.00 per cent 
3.79 44 41 

Caffein 

2.08 44 

< < 

enous matter 

18.21 44 

< < 

Fat 

Starch 

1.35 44 
45.40 44 

<« 

«< 

Mineral matter 

2.90 44 

< < 

The other alkaloid in 

kolanut 

besides caffein is 

kolanin. 

The 


fresh, undried nuts contain very little kolanin, which is developed 
by fermentation under the influence of an enzyme. A beverage is 
made by adding a teaspoonful of the powdered nut to one-half 
pint of water and boiling it for five minutes. Opinion is divided 
as to whether the after effects of kolanin are as injurious as those 
of many other narcotics. 

The properties of the kola nut as an agent for the relief of 
fatigue have been unduly exaggerated, mainly for commercial pur¬ 
poses. For some time it was assumed that this nut contained a 
peculiar property which increased endurance, but careful investi¬ 
gation revealed the fact that its chief active principle is caffein, 
and to this the temporary exhilarating effect of the drug must be 
attributed. Shrewd and unscrupulous manufacturers at the pres¬ 
ent time use mixtures of caffein and burnt sugar, instead of kola- 
nuts, in the preparation of various drinks. As the alleged virtues 
of both coca leaves and kolanuts have been exaggerated, it is but 
natural that a number of preparations are manufactured with 
misleading names which suggest the presence of both products. 
Some of the widely advertised soft drinks generally contain, in 
addition to caffein, the habit forming drug, cocaine. Many people 
become addicted to the use of medicated soft drinks as others do 
to alcoholic beverages. It is also quite probable that the extensive 
use of the kola nut by the natives of tropical Africa is one of the 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


409 


contributing causes of sleeping sickness, which is believed to be 
caused by the bite of the tsetse fly. 

MATE 

Mate, or Paraguay tea, consists of the leaves of a species of 
holly, the ilex paraguayensis, which grows in the forests of Para¬ 
guay, southern Brazil, and in the Argentine Republic. Mate has 
been used in South America for centuries, in the same way that 
the Chinese prepare tea. The plant is now extensively cultivated 
but the production is not yet equal to the increasing demand. The 
consumption is eight million pounds yearly in its native countries; 
the dried and powdered leaves smelling slightly of tan form the 
basis of the decoction, which has an aromatic but somewhat bitter 
and astringent taste. 

The tonic and stimulating properties of mate are chiefly due to 
them, of which the leaves contain from 0.5 to 1.8 per cent. It is 
imported in small quantities to the United States, and appears to 
find favor with many people, since on account of its smaller amount 
of thein, it is less stimulating than tea and coffee. The leaves are 
very rich in alkaline elements. 

COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 

The cocoa tree (theobroma cacao) was cultivated, and its prod¬ 
ucts highly esteemed in Mexico and Peru previous to the dis¬ 
covery of the American Continent by Columbus, who brought the 
first cacao (or cocoa) beans to Spain. Cacao was introduced in 
England in the middle of the seventeenth century, from which 
its use spread throughout continental Europe, together with coffee 
and tea, but the higher price of cacao kept it a long time among 
the luxuries of the wealthy. 

The botanical name of the tree “theobroma” is derived from 
the Greek and means “Food of the Gods” while the word “choc¬ 
olate” is of Aztec origin, composed of choco (cocoa) and 
latl (water), and refers particularly to the drink made from 
the roasted and ground beans. 

Cacao is now commercially grown throughout tropical America. 
The tree is of low stature, reaching from 16 to 18 feet in height. 
The leaves are large, smooth and glossy, of elliptic shape, growing 
principally at the ends of branches, but sometimes springing 


410 


RATIONAL DIET 


directly from the main trunk. The flowers are small and grow in 
numerous clusters on the main branches and the trunk, a very 
marked peculiarity which gives the matured fruit the appearance 
of being artificially attached to the tree. When ripe the fruit or 
“pod” is somewhat like a cucumber in shape, from 7 to 10 inches 
in length, and from 3 to 4^ inches in diameter. It has a hard, 
thick, leathery rind of rich purplish yellow color, externally rough 
and marked with ten very distinct longitudinal ribs or elevations. 
The interior of the fruit has five segments, each containing a row of 
from 5 to 10 seeds, which constitute the raw cacao or “ cocoa 
beans” of commerce. The pulp of the fruit has a sweetish, but 
not unpleasant taste, and is frequently eaten in the countries in 
which the tree grows. 

When the fruit is gathered, the seed is removed from the pod 
and subjected to from two to seven days’ fermentation in tins, 
earthen vessels, or in heaps on the ground till the pulp is decom¬ 
posed. After the process of fermentation, the beans are carefully 
dried under uniform conditions of warmth and moisture. In the 
manufacturing process the seeds are screened, roasted, and shelled, 
the kernels being known as cacao nibs. The hulls are often used as 
a cheap substitute for cacao. About sixty per cent of the fat is 
removed and placed on the market in cakes known as cacao butter. 
The residue of the cacao nibs is ground, boxed, and sold as solid 
“cocoa” or is pressed into cakes after being sweetened, and is 
known as chocolate. 

The shelled cacao beans with their fat show the following com¬ 
position, which varies according to the locality where they are 
grown. 

Water 4.5 to 8 per cent 

Protein 11.0 “15 “ “ 

Fats 40.0 “ 51 “ “ 

Coloring matter and tannin 2.0 “ 3 “ “ 

Starch 3.0 “ 4 “ “ 

Crude fiber 5.0 “ 10 “ “ 

Theobromine 1.0 “ 3 “ “ 

Mineral matter 3.0 “ 4 “ “ 

The organic salts consist largely of phosphate of potash, phos¬ 
phate of magnesia and sulphuric acid. Iron and lime are found 
only in small quantities. 

Cacao, after it has been partly deprived of its fat, contains 





STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


411 


about six per cent water, 17 per cent protein, 12 per cent carbo¬ 
hydrates, 1.3 per cent theobromine. It is frequently adulterated 
with rice meal, oatmeal, flour, potato starch, roasted nuts, etc. 

Chocolate is prepared by grinding finely 4 to 5 parts of sugar 
with six parts of cacao, with a little vanilla extract. The stimu¬ 
lating action of cocoa and chocolate is due to the alkaloid theo¬ 
bromine, but its effect is not so pronounced as in tea and coffee. 

Although the products of cacao have considerable food value 
they should be used but sparingly, as they are highly acid forming. 
Chocolate in its various forms, containing as it does over fifty per 
cent cane sugar and about 25 per cent fat, is a highly concentrated 
food, but deficient in vitamins and alkaline salts. 

The world’s annual production of cacao is about 500 million 
pounds, of which 25 per cent are consumed in the United States. 
A large part is used in the manufacture of chocolate candies, 
which have become quite a favorite with the American people, 
who eat them in excessive quantities. While the occasional use 
of these products may not do much harm, there is danger that they 
will create a morbid craving for artificial sweets, and over-indul¬ 
gence will soon produce acidity of the blood, followed by severe 
catarrhal conditions, adenoids and functional diseases. 

OPIUM 

Opium is one of the strongest narcotics known. It is prepared 
from the dried juice of the opium poppy (papaver somniferum ). 
It is chiefly grown in southeastern Europe, western Asia, and 
India. Its activity is principally due to the vegetable alkaloid 
morphia, or morphine, of which good opium contains on an aver¬ 
age about 10 per cent. Morphine was the first of the alkaloids 
discovered by modern chemistry at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century, although opium has been used as a drug since the begin¬ 
ning of the Christian era. In the middle ages the various kinds 
of opium prepared in Persia were known as ‘ * theriaka. ’ ’ It was 
introduced into China probably by the Arabs in the fourteenth 
century, and was at first used as a remedy for dysentery, diar¬ 
rhoea, and fevers, and was usually brought from India by the 
Chinese as return cargo. Through its use for medicinal purposes, 
opium eating and smoking soon became a firmly established habit 
throughout the Orient. In that respect it resembles alcohol, a crav- 


412 


RATIONAL DIET 


ing for which is often established by first using it when disguised 
as a medicinal preparation. 

Opium if taken in very small doses of less than a grain, pro¬ 
duces an agreeable sensation stimulating the imagination by blunt¬ 
ing reason and memory, followed by a desire to sleep. The awak¬ 
ing is accompanied by a feeling of depression and dryness of the 
mouth and throat. In large doses, as from two to four grains, 
the stage of excitement is followed by mental and physical depres¬ 
sion and irresistible sleepiness, nausea and headache. Opium is 
frequently administered hypodermically with the same effect. 

Opium eating is chiefly practiced in Asia Minor, Persia, and 
India, and this method of taking the drug is generally considered 
much more deleterious than opium smoking, which is a firmly es¬ 
tablished habit in China, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and 
in the countries where Chinese labor is largely employed. Since 
the East India Company began to monopolize the opium trade in 
eastern Asia in 1757, the imports into China have enormously in¬ 
creased in spite of the continuous protest of the Chinese govern¬ 
ment. 

In 1839 a proclamation was issued threatening hostile measures 
if the English opium ships serving as depots were not sent away, 
but the British continued to smuggle cargoes on shore. Outrages 
committed on both sides led to the so-called opium war which was 
ended by the treaty of Nanking in 1842. But so firmly had the 
opium smoking habit taken hold of the Chinese, that in spite of all 
further remonstrance of the Chinese government, the exporta¬ 
tion of opium from India to China has continued, and in 1880 
reached the enormous amount of thirteen million pounds! In 1858 
it was estimated that about two million Chinese smoked opium, and 
m 1878 from one-fourth to three-tenths of the entire population 
of 400 millions used it. An especially prepared extract of opium 
is used for smoking. 

Realizing the seriousness of these conditions, in 1907 an agree¬ 
ment was made between Great Britain and China by which the In¬ 
dian government was to reduce annually the exportation of opium 
into China, and the poppy raising industry in India was to be 
correspondingly curtailed. This agreement, renewed in 1911, an¬ 
ticipated the extinction of the opium trade by 1917. While this 
agreement has not been strictly adhered to, partly because of 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


413 


the laxity of the Chinese government, nevertheless, there has been a 
decrease in the trade and in the opium habit. 

The opium trade is characteristic of modern commercialism, in 
that it endeavors to force its wares upon people for the mere sake 
of private gain, irrespective of the injurious influences upon public 
health. In every way opium smoking may be regarded in the 
same light as the use of alcoholic stimulants. The use of the drug 
is opposed by all thinking Chinese who are not pecuniarily inter¬ 
ested in the opium trade. Among the reasons urged by the Chi¬ 
nese against the consumption of opium are, that it drains money 
from the country by spreading the drug habit; causes sterility; 
increases the possibility of famine through cultivation of the poppy 
where cereals and fruits should be grown, and leads to the corrup¬ 
tion of state officials. 

Twenty different kinds of opiates are derived from opium, of 
which the most frequently used are morphine and heroin. Mor¬ 
phine, which constitutes about one-tenth of crude opium, seldom 
appears outside of chemical laboratories, unless it is combined with 
some other drug. Heroin, a compound made artificially from mor¬ 
phine, is the most poisonous opiate known. Four-fifths of 2,300 
patients treated at the Riverside Hospital, New York, were ad¬ 
dicted to heroin. 

There are nine thousand tons of opium produced every year, 
and only three and a half tons are needed for legitimate use! What 
becomes of 8,996% tons that are not legitimately accounted for? 
Three-fourths of the deadly stuff that spells ruin, degradation to 
mind and soul and body, comes to the United States of America. 
The narcotic drug traffic has almost trebled in America in the 
past two years. In fact we now use seventeen times more per 
capita than the Chinese, who have always been considered the 
most drug-cursed nation of the world. 

Austria uses one-half grain of opium, yearly, for each man, 
woman and child; Italy 1 grain; Germany and Portugal, 2 grains; 
France, 3 grains; Holland, 3% grains, and the United States, 36 
grains per capita per year! The probability is, however, that 
there are more than 1,000,000 victims in the United States who use 
from 2% to 3 grains daily. The habit does not remain static in the 
individual, but increases with appalling swiftness. It takes but 
thirty days, at the most, to make a full-fledged addict, and even 



414 


RATIONAL DIET 


the first dose is frequently habit-forming. As long as foreign 
nations permit and encourage the growing of the poppy and the 
manufacture of patent medicines containing opium is going on, 
America's drug habit will seize more victims every year. 

COCA AND COCAINE 

Coca is made from the leaves of the coca shrub (erythroxylum 
coca) which is extensively cultivated in Peru and Bolivia. The 
natives chew the leaves which they claim appease hunger and 
fatigue. For this purpose the leaves of commerce are by no 
means as active as freshly dried leaves, though it appears that they 
have been extensively exploited for commercial purposes. Its 
stimulating effects are largely due to its alkaloid, cocaine, whose 
properties resemble those of opium. It is one of the most insidious 
and dangerous habit forming drugs known at present. Within re¬ 
cent years it has been employed as an anaesthetic in major surgical 
operations. If injected into the spinal canal, cocaine has the re¬ 
markable effect of producing complete insensibility to pain in the 
entire portion of the body below the point where it is injected, but 
has no effect whatever above that point. Like opium, cocaine is used 
in the manufacture of patent medicines, especially catarrhal reme¬ 
dies. Cocaine is frequently obtained by drug addicts under false 
pretenses, and the amount annually consumed at present in the 
leading civilized countries is estimated approximately at 1,500 tons. 

Only about 7 per cent of this amount is used in dental and 
other legitimate practice. What becomes of the other 93 per cent ? 

Not only are the drug-traffickers enriched by smuggled dope, 
but by an astounding proportion of that imported through regular 
illegitimate media. Last year’s importations of narcotics amounted 
to 292,971,000 grains. 

“Of this amount,” says Colonel L. G. Nutt, chief of the nar¬ 
cotic section, Bureau of Internal Revenue, “we estimate from 65 
to 80 per cent found its way into illicit channels! ’ ’ Estimating the 
amount of smuggled dope at approximately the amount brought 
in openly, or from 275,000,000 to 300,000,000 grains, a total of at 
least half a billion grains handled through illicit channels is de¬ 
clared reasonable. 

“Here is what this means in the way of profits to the dope 
sellers. Morphine, at wholesale from the manufacturer, brings 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


415 


from a cent to a cent and three-quarters a grain,” says Colonel 
Nutt. ‘‘Our men are buying it from dope peddlers at from 5 
cents to as high as $5.00 a grain. The average price to the dope 
user, we find, is about $1 a grain. In many cities, however, it 
brings $2.00 or more. I would place the average at least at $1.00 
a grain, which means a ‘dope’ bill to users in this country of at 
least $500,000,000 a year.” 

HEMP 

Hemp (canabis sativa) is grown for three products: the fibre 
of its stem, its oily seeds, the resinous secretion which in hot coun¬ 
tries is developed upon its leaves and flowering heads. It is this 
last named product that closely resembles opium in its action upon 
the nervous system. The intoxicating properties of hemp have 
been recognized in Oriental countries from a very early period, 
and during the Middle Ages a knowledge of its use spread through 
India, Persia and Arabia, where it is known as “hashish.” It is 
smoked with or without tobacco; it is also made into sweetmeats, 
combined with honey, sugar and aromatic spices; or it is powdered 
and infused in cold water, yielding a turbid drink. Generally the 
first effect of a small dose is stimulating; larger doses produce 
hallucinations, delirium, sleep, and sometimes catalepsy. During 
the dreamy state, induced by an average dose of hashish, the 
patient becomes obsessed with rapidly shifting ideas. Errors of 
perception as to time and place are a conspicuous characteristic 
of its effects on the mind. Assassination is historical in connection 
with hashish, as during the rule of the Ismaelites in the eleventh 
century, certain selected young men were made intoxicated by 
hemp, in order to force a condition whereby they were liable to 
commit any suggested cruelty or murder. 

Hemp is still very largely used in Eastern countries as an 
intoxicant and narcotic, probably by nearly 300 millions of the 
human race, who are thereby kept practically in a state of slavery 
by their European rulers. 

TOBACCO 

Tobacco has been used as a sedative or narcotic over a larger 
area and among a greater number of people than any similaPsub- 
stance—opium ranking second, and hemp third. 

Tobacco was used by the inhabitants of the West Indies long 


416 


RATIONAL DIET 


before Columbus discovered the Western Continent. It belongs to 
the family of deadly nightshade, and is now cultivated for its 
leaves, which, when cured, are used for smoking, chewing, and as 
snuff. Its generic name, nicotiana tabacum, was given in honor 
of Jean Nicot, who introduced tobacco into France from Spain in 
the middle of the sixteenth century. From France it was taken 
to England by Sir Francis Drake. Its use rapidly extended 
throughout Europe and soon became extensively prevalent among 
Oriental nations. 

On the North American Continent the cultivation of tobacco 
began shortly after the landing of the first immigrants. The first 
plantings were made in Virginia in 1615, and rapidly extended 
into Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia, and later, Kentucky, where 
tobacco has constituted one of the leading crops ever since. Wis¬ 
consin, Ohio, Connecticut, Tennessee and Florida and other 
Southern States also produce their share of tobacco now. Alto¬ 
gether the United States of America produces more tobacco than 
any other country—about 35 per cent of the world’s crop, one- 
third of which is exported to European countries. About 1,600,000 
acres are now devoted to tobacco culture in the United States, 
which produces about one billion pounds, valued at one hun¬ 
dred million dollars. In addition to being the largest producer 
of tobacco, the United States is also the greatest exporter, importer 
and consumer of tobacco. India is the second largest producer, 
consuming most of its product; Russia is the third. Brazil leads 
among the South American countries. Tobacco is also an im¬ 
portant crop throughout central and southern Europe, Mexico, 
Japan and the East and West Indies. 

The most characteristic constituent of tobacco is nicotine, a 
poisonous alkaloid, which is split up during the process of smok¬ 
ing into pyridine and collodine. 

Like alcohol, opium, coffee, tea, etc., tobacco must be ranked 
as a nervous stimulant which seriously interferes with the oxidation 
and formation of the living tissues, and is especially injurious to 
the young, leading to impairment of growth, mental precocity, and 
ultimately resulting in early physical and mental decline. It 
affects the ganglionic cells, between the center of the sympathetic 
nervous system and the heart, thereby inducing depression and 
acceleration of the heart’s action, and constriction or dilation of 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


417 


the blood vessels. The inveterate smoker is often afflicted with 
what is known as a “tobacco heart.’’ Naturally, there are people 
who have used tobacco more or less generously and at the same 
time have attained a ripe old age, but in those instances it will be 
found that they have inherited a large amount of vitality, and 
were for the most part abstemious eaters, and seldom indulged 
in excesses of other kinds. This, however, constitutes no valid 
justification for the unrestricted use of tobacco. Besides we should 
take into consideration the fact that several billions of dollars are 
annually spent throughout the world for tobacco in its various 
forms. Whatever may be said in its defense, its most ardent 
advocates seldom, if ever, attribute constructive properties to the 
narcotic. Of course a certain amount of temporary pleasure can 
be obtained by the absorption of many substances which are 
antagonistic to the principles of life, and this pleasurable feeling 
lasts just as long as our constitution remains in a strong enough 
condition to resist them, whether they are derived from alcohol, 
opium or tobacco. As a matter of fact, these temporary, agree¬ 
able sensations are really the reaction of the vital organs, the sud¬ 
den quickening of organic functions, to call upon reserve forces, 
and this undue stimulation is always followed by a period of 
mental and physical lassitude. 

It is but rational to preserve our vital forces as much as pos¬ 
sible, and not dissipate them by indulging in injurious luxuries, 
although there are many who claim that the use of tobacco has 
become a comfort and a necessity. 

It may be surprising to many to know that the consumption 
of cigarettes has increased from 25 billions in 1916, to 50 billions 
in 1921, an increase of 100 per cent in 5 years. 

The cultivation of tobacco should not be encouraged from 
another point of view. It exhausts the soil by depleting it of valu¬ 
able mineral elements. Many fertile fields have been ruined 
by tobacco culture. Every four pounds of perfectly dry tobacco 
leaves contain one pound of mineral matter which we can easily 
notice in the amount of ashes of burnt cigars and cigarettes. All 
these substances have been derived from the soil in which the plant 
has grown and which could have been far better utilized by the 
cultivation of fruits and vegetables. 


418 


RATIONAL DIET 


PEPPER AND CLOVES 

Pepper (piper negrum) comprises a family of climbing shrubs 
which are indigenous to the East Indies, but are now cultivated in 
most tropical countries. Their fruit, especially the black pepper, 
is the most common and largely used of all spices. Pepper was 
known to the ancients, and Hippocrates used it as a medicine. 
During the Middle Ages pepper was one of the most costly spices, 
used only by the rich. Pepper depends for its properties chiefly 
on an acrid resin and acrid volatile oil; it also contains a poison¬ 
ous alkaloid, piperidin, and a crystalline substance, piperin. Pep¬ 
per irritates the digestive and urinary tracts. The Hungarian Red 
Pepper or paprika and the Cayenne Pepper are made from the 
ground pods of various species of the capsicum plant. The cayenne 
of commerce is derived from tropical spices, its peculiar pungent 
taste is due to the presence of a large amount of alkaloid known as 
capsicin, which makes it even more injurious than the black 
pepper. 

Another well-known spice frequently used is cloves, really the 
dried undeveloped flowers of the evergreen clove tree, which is 
cultivated in Brazil, Ceylon, India, the West Indies and other 
tropical countries. When the green buds begin to turn red, they 
are gathered in the sun. The strong, pungent odor is due to an 
essential oil, of which ]0 to 20 per cent is present. The astringent 
taste is caused by a large amount of tannin. 

CINNAMON AND CASSIA 

Cinnamon is the bark of the cinnamon tree (cinnamomum 
zeylanicum), which is cultivated in the islands of Ceylon, Sumatra, 
and Java, as well as in some parts of tropical Asia. The thin, 
inner bark of the tree is used commercially in long cylindrical rolls 
of a light brown color. 

Cassia, which is often mixed with powdered cinnamon, is the 
bark of a tree (cinnamomum cassia) which grows in tropical China 
and India. As the outer bark is usually left on, this product is 
thicker and darker than the Ceylon cinnamon. 

The sweet flavor of cinnamon is due to the presence of from 1 
to 2 per cent of volatile oil, while the bitter after-taste is caused 
by a small amount of tannin contained in the bark. 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


419 


NUTMEG AND MACE 

Nutmeg and mace are products of the nutmeg tree (myristica 
fragrans), which is a native of the East India Islands, but is also 
cultivated in India and Central America. The nutmeg of commerce 
is the kernel of the fruit of the tree. The kernel, which is sur¬ 
rounded with a thick covering, is dried in the sun or by artificial 
heat. In the drying process the outer covering separates and is 
then ground up into powder. Nutmeg contains about 4 to 12 per 
cent water, 55 per cent protein, 30 to 40 per cent starch, 30 to 37 
per cent fat, 7 to 10 per cent crude fiber, 2.5 to 4 per cent of a 
volatile oil, and 2 to 3 per cent of mineral water. 

Mace is made from the second coat or aril covering the nutmeg, 
which it resembles in quality. 

ALLSPICE AND MUSTARD 

Allspice or pimento, as distinguished from pimiento, is the dried 
fruit of an evergreen tree (pimenta officinalis) which grows in the 
West Indies, but is also cultivated in the East Indies. The berries 
have a fragrant odor, supposed to resemble a mixture of cloves, 
cinnamon and nutmegs, hence the name 1 ‘ allspice. ’ 1 Its principal 
constituents are protein, starch, tannin, crude fiber, mineral matter, 
and a volatile oil, which produces its characteristic flavor. 

Mustard (sinapis arvensis) is the seed of the mustard plant, 
which is cultivated extensively throughout the United States and 
Europe. There are two varieties known as yellow and brown 
mustard, which are ground into flour after a considerable amount 
of the fixed oil has been removed, while a volatile pungent oil, 
giving this spice its peculiar properties, remains. The mineral 
matter of the flour consists largely of phosphate of potash and 
magnesia, lime, and sulphur. 

SALT 

Table salt (or chloride of sodium), as it is found in nature, 
either in solid form or as a constituent of sea water, is an inorganic 
compound containing about 60 per cent chlorine and 40 per cent 
sodium. It is gained from sea water by solar evaporation, or ex¬ 
tracted from the many salt deposits throughout the world. Its 
consumption is continually increasing, and in the United States 
about 90 pounds per capita is used annually, or about 4 ounces 


420 


RATIONAL DIET 


per day for every man, woman and child. Salt is used extensively 
in the meat packing business, the manufacture of dairy products, 
in bread making, and in the preparation of nearly all cooked 

dishes. 

There is no doubt that salt has been used by man for thousands 
of years, wherever it was obtainable, but the antiquity of a custom 
—as previously stated—does not justify it by any means. The salt 
eating habit was very likely acquired when man began to cook his 
food, and then tried to restore its palatability. Nature provides 
man in the natural raw foods with all the mineral elements in a 
highly organized form, in which they are readily assimilated. Table 
salt is an inorganic substance and cannot be utilized by the body in 
the formation of blood or tissues, but is discharged again in the 
same form, as salt, after having irritated the mucous membranes of 
the digestive canal. The widespread opinion that salt is necessary 
as an aid for digestion and the preservation of health, cannot stand 
in the light of thorough scientific investigation. Experiments 
have shown that table salt interferes with the absorption of the 
chyme by the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines; 
that it is a strong diuretic, detracting from blood and lymph the 
necessary water for its excretion through the kidneys; that it 
unduly increases the solubility of protein, thus excreting in the 
urine a considerable amount of tissue building material, a patholog¬ 
ical condition known as “albuminuria.” The continued use of 
much salt will cause a severe affliction of the kidneys—nephritis. 

Salt likewise causes inflammatory swellings of the glands; scrofu¬ 
lous conditions are generally observed with salt-eating children; 
skin diseases (eczema), scurvy, are also common with those who 
constantly use salt. Smoked meats, dried fish, butter and cheese 
are especially heavily salted, and the increasing consumption of 
alcoholic beverages may be largely attributed to this fact. 

So depraved has the appetite of many people become that they 
use salt on almost everything they eat. While very small quantities 
of salt may not to any appreciable extent be harmful, there are 
many people who use no salt at all and are much healthier for 
having discarded it. 

Commercialism has evidently a great deal to do with the in¬ 
creasing consumption of salt, as it has been brought within the 


STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 


421 


immediate reach of every one. It is found on every table, where 
it is a constant temptation for many to use it excessively. 

It is often pointed out that animals increase in weight if salt 
is mixed with their feed. This, however, is due to an undue 
stimulation of the appetite, which leads the animals to overeat. 
The so-called salt-licks are often mentioned as an argument in 
favor of the use of salt. Close observers found, however, that 
herbivorous animals crave for salt only as a temporary physic, after 
they have been deprived of their natural food during the long 
winter months. As soon as they have a plentiful supply of green 
foods they will abandon the licks. Likewise man, after adopting 
a simple and natural diet, will .gradually lose his unnatural 
craving for salt. 

VINEGAR 

Vinegar is a liquid containing acetic acid in various degrees, 
usually from 2 to 5 per cent. It is the result of acetic fermenta¬ 
tion of alcoholic liquids, such as fermented malt liquors or fruit 
juices, preferably cider. During the process of fermentation, 
which is caused by bacteria and is accelerated at temperatures from 
65° F. to 75° F., 100 parts of alcohol are converted into 120 parts 
of acetic acid, which is chemically oxidized alcohol. Although vin¬ 
egar is one of the oldest and most common condiments and house¬ 
hold preservatives, it is, like alcoholic beverages, positively injuri¬ 
ous to the digestive organs. It reduces the number of the red 
blood corpuscles and retards digestion and assimilation. Besides 
vinegar is apt to be adulterated with sulphuric and sulphurous 
acids. 

Condiments, such as salt, pepper and vinegar, are doing a great 
deal of harm in the preparation of foods, causing indigestion, and 
spoiling the taste for the delicate flavor of natural foods. The 
natural fruit acids of the lemon and lime should always take the 
place of vinegar, for these acids benefit health and vitality. 


CHAPTER XI 

Adulteration of Food and Drink 

It should be the highest aim of the farmer and manufacturer to 
furnish to the consumer the best and most wholesome foods which 
experience and skill can produce. Our present system of commer¬ 
cialism, however, has developed the tendency to put the quick and 
unscrupulous acquisition of wealth before public health, giving the 
latter problem only secondary consideration or disregarding it 
entirely. 

There are many staple foods on the market, which, according 
to prevailing standards are quite legitimate, such as white flour, 
corn syrup, candies, crackers, various canned and preserved foods, 
sulphured fruits, highly seasoned foods, and many other widely 
advertised products which cannot be recommended from a hygienic 
standpoint. Most of these foods are deficient in organic salts and 
vitamins, while substances have been added which are more or less 
detrimental to health. The only protection left to people against 
the constantly increasing varieties of manufactured foods is to 
inform themselves about the real nutritive and hygienic value of 
what they eat and drink, and to disregard the exaggerated claims 
made by imposing advertisements in magazines and newspapers. 
The American people, metaphorically, have been educated “to eat 
with their eyes.” Products that have been bleached until they have 
lost all traces of their original color, or that have been colored with 
brilliant dyes, are generally given the preference, irrespective of 
their inferior nutritive value. To educate the people to a better 
understanding of true food values should be the aim of all public 
and domestic science schools, colleges and universities, but most of 
the text books used in these institutions merely confirm belief 
in the harmful methods applied at present to the manufacture 
and preparation of foods. 

Adulteration of foods and drinks, as generally understood, in¬ 
cludes a number of injurious and deceptive practices. According to 
existing laws, food is regarded as adulterated if anything has 
been mixed with it to reduce its quality or strength, if anything 


422 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 


423 


inferior or cheaper has been substituted wholly or in part; if it 
consists wholly or in part of a diseased, decomposed, or putrid 
animal or vegetable substance; if by coloring, coating, or other¬ 
wise, it is made to appear of greater value than it really is; if it 
contains any added poisonous ingredients, which include coloring 
matter, dyes, chemical preservatives and mineral substances. Mis¬ 
branding, or mislabeling, also constitutes an adulteration. 

All these practices are dealt with in the Federal Pure Food Law, 
enacted by the Congress of the United States, June 30, 1906, and 
amended August 23, 1912, and March 3, 1913. 

Adulterations usually consist of the addition of cheaper, though 
harmless ingredients, added for commercial profit, rather than of 
actually poisonous or injurious substances, though occasional in¬ 
stances of the latter have been found. 

Before the passing of the Pure Food Law, the use of chemical 
preservatives was quite extensive, because it was cheaper to use 
them than to preserve foods by pasteurization and sterilization, or 
by refrigeration. In the process of pasteurization, the liquid is sub¬ 
jected to a temperature of about 160 degrees F. for 20 minutes in 
order to destroy the bacteria of fermentation. Sterilization is em¬ 
ployed chiefly in the preservation of canned foods, after the cans 
have been hermetically sealed. The temperature reaches the boiling 
point of water, or more, if the cans are sterilized in an air tight 
cabinet under pressure. This method, however, detracts consider¬ 
ably from the nutritive quality and digestibility of the food, as it 
coagulates the protein and disorganizes the mineral elements. 

Refrigeration, or cold storage, is now the most widely used 
method of food preservation. The temperature is held constantly 
below 40 degrees F. to prevent fermentation or putrefaction. 

The most commonly used preservatives are sodium chloride, or 
table salt, saltpetre, nitric acid, boron compounds (borax and boric 
acid) formaldehyde, sulphurous acid and sulphites, salicylic and 
benzoic acids, fluorine compounds, alum, copper-sulphate, sulphate 
of lime, formic acid, saccharine, etc. Under the present laws the 
use of some of these preservatives in small quantities is permitted, 
provided the amount added is plainly indicated on the package. 

The users of chemical preservatives have employed well known 
experts to testify in favor of these products, in order to belittle 
their injurious effects. The argument generally made that small 


424 


RATIONAL DIET 


quantities of an injurious substance are not harmful, is wholly un¬ 
tenable. It may be conceded that these minute quantities would not 
be dangerous in so far as producing any immediate fatality is 
concerned, but after continued use, they will certainly prove in¬ 
jurious. As in the case of other poisons, because the injurious 
effects of single doses or small quantities are not traceable at 
once, affords no proof that the habitual use of preservatives is harm¬ 
less. It is the constantly falling drop of water that finally disinte¬ 
grates the rock. 

It is evident that any substance which prevents chemical action 
outside of the body, must naturally interfere also with the work 
of the digestive juices in preparing food for assimilation. The U. S. 
Department of Agriculture made a number of experiments to de¬ 
termine the physiological action of some of the most widely used 
preservatives. The work covered the effect of salicylic and boric 
acids, saccharine and sulphate of lime upon the salivary digestion 
of starch. The action of these substances was studied by leaving the 
starch and saliva in contact with them for different lengths of 
time, the periods being 1, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. 

The conclusion drawn from the results of the experiments are 
as follows: 

When the preservatives are present in the proportion of 1 part 
to 210 parts of food, the entire action of the saliva is, without ex¬ 
ception, suspended for five minutes. At fifteen and thirty minutes 
borax still impedes the action; even at sixty minutes the digestive 
action is still checked slightly by borax. At the end of sixty min¬ 
utes in the experiments with salicylic acid and saccharine, not a 
trace of sugar could be found. These results show that salicylic 
acid is the most injurious of this group of preservatives. Saccharine 
comes next, followed by borax and sulphate of lime. 

Sodium chloride, or common salt, is one of the oldest preserva¬ 
tives. Before the introduction of borax and boric acid it w T as 
used in much larger quantities for this purpose than at present. 
Butter often contained from 6 to 8 per cent of salt, while now from 
2 to 3 per cent is used. The effect of salt on the human system 
has been described in the preceding chapter. 

Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) is largely used in salting meats. 
It is apt to produce nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, and, when 
used in large doses tends to inflame the urinary passages, and to 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 


425 


irritate the epithelium of the mucous membranes. Like common 
salt, saltpetre has been largely displaced by borax as a preservative. 

Boron, in the form of borax and boric acid, or a mixture of the 
two is probably now the most commonly used preservative, es¬ 
pecially in the preservation of meat, fish, fats, and to some extent, 
of fruit juices and condensed milk. All boric compounds have the 
property of paralyzing fermentative action and thus securing im¬ 
munity from decay. Borax has a stronger action than boric acid. 
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, former chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, who made some elaborate and ex¬ 
tensive series of experiments with boron compounds, came to the 
conclusion that both boric acid and borax, when continuously 
administered in small doses for a long period, or when given in 
larger quantities for a short period, create disturbance of appetite, 
of digestion. 

The Prussian Scientific Deputation on Medical Conditions, in a 
written opinion, on the request of the President of the Berlin Police 
Service, also decided against the use of boron preparations for the 
preservation of foods, because it was found that these substances, 
even when taken in small quantities, are injurious to the human 
body. By the addition of these preservatives, the public is deceived 
as to the inferior quality of adulterated foods. Decayed and wholly 
unedible flesh products, for instance, take on a fresh appearance 
as a result of the addition of borax compounds. 

Salicylic Acid is a white, crystalline, strongly acid powder made 
synthetically by treating carbolic acid with sodium hydroxide and 
carbon dioxide; it is also procured by treating wintergreen oil with 
strong potash lye. Salicylic acid is slightly soluble in cold water 
(1 part in 450) and much more so in hot water. It is readily 
soluble in ether, alcohol, and chloroform. It is also frequently 
found in very diminutive amounts in grapes, strawberries, and 
other fruits. 

Salicylic acid prevents fermentation of fruit juices, if added in 
the strength of one per mille. It is a powerful drug which acts as 
an irritant in its passage through the kidneys, producing albumi¬ 
nuria and even haematuria; it also exerts a depressing effect on the 
heart. Its use in food products has been prohibited in France and 
Germany. 

Dr. Wiley’s investigations also show that the use of salicylic 


426 


RATIONAL DIET 


acid and sylicates is injurious to the digestive processes and though 
not always immediately apparent, must finally produce serious 
effects upon health. 

Benzoic Acid, which resembles salicylic acid in chemical compo¬ 
sition, is produced by the oxidation of a large number of organic 
substances, particularly resin, which exudes from the bark of 
trees growing in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Siam. It is odor¬ 
less when cold; and is soluble in 200 parts of cold and 25 parts of 
boiling water, and readily dissolves in alcohol. 

Sodium Benzoate is the salt most largely used in commercial 
preservatives, being much more soluble than benzoic acid, into 
which, however, it is converted when added to acid fruit prepara¬ 
tions. Benzoate is a white amorphous substance, having a sweetish, 
astringent taste, and is soluble in 1.8 parts of cold water, and in 45 
parts of alcohol. It is largely used as a preservative of catsups, 
fruit products, soft drinks, wines, fish, butter, and sometimes in 
milk. Its use is permitted under the federal law, provided the 
presence and amount are declared on the label. But since many 
people are not acquainted with chemical terms, the notice does not 
materially affect the sale of the product. 

Dr. Harvey Wiley found, after a careful study of many indi¬ 
vidual cases, that the administration of benzoic acid and benzoate 
of soda was attended with a distinct loss of weight, indicative of 
either a disturbance of assimilation or an increased activity in those 
processes of the body which result in destruction of tissue. While 
the administering of both these preservatives, therefore, is undoubt¬ 
edly harmful, the injurious effects are produced more rapidly with 
benzoic acid than they are with benzoate of soda. The final results, 
however, show that the total harmful effect is practically the same 
in both cases. There is no reason for assuming that the administra¬ 
tion of the preservative in the form of benzoate of soda can have 
any other than a deleterious effect upon the body. In the interests 
of health, both benzoic acid and benzoate of soda should be excluded 
from food products. 

Fluorine Compounds possess marked preservative properties. 
They are used to a small extent in the preservation of dairy prod¬ 
ucts and beer. Experiments have proven that fluorides, even in 
small quantities, have injurious action upon protoplasm. They re¬ 
duce the force and frequency of pulsation and depress the temper- 


ADULTERATION OP FOODS 42? 

ature of the body. They also decrease the number of red blood 
corpuscles. 

Alum is not generally considered to be antiseptic, but it is a 
constituent of certain preservatives sold for curing meats. It is 
also used to harden vegetables for pickling, and in baking powders 
to improve the appearance of bread. Although it may not do im¬ 
mediate harm in minute quantities, it is dangerous, and its use 
in foodstuffs should be entirely discontinued. In Germany, the use 
of alum in the manufacturing of food products has been strictly for¬ 
bidden for many years. 

Copper Sulphate and salts of copper, are used more for coloring 
purposes than for preserving. The copper forms with certain pro- 
teids a compound possessing a dark green color, which adds to the 
appearance of preserved peas, string beans, and other vegetables. 
The copper salts also harden the exterior covering of peas, so that 
when preserved in bottles or tins, the vegetable remains intact and 
the surrounding fluid clear. The skin of peas not treated with cop¬ 
per easily breaks apart, and the fluid becomes turbid although the 
peas remain in good condition. 

Sulphate of copper has been used in the United States for the 
destruction of algae in water reservoirs, and according to experi¬ 
ments the sulphate in dilutions of 1 in 10,000,000 to 1 in 50,000,000 
was sufficient to kill the algae. Copper sulphate added to water in 
this manner seems to disappear on standing, apparently it is pre¬ 
cipitated as a carbonate, or as an organic compound which settles 
on sedimentation. In any case, the quantity used for the prevention 
of vegetable growth in water is exceedingly small as compared with 
the amount contained in peas and other vegetables treated with 
copper. As water, however, is used in large quantities every day, 
the question whether traces of copper contained therein are likely to 
endanger health is an important one. 

Experiments with men and animals have shown that an amount 
of copper sulphate of more than 2 grains per day, taken by an 
adult man, is decidedly injurious to health, and where the above 
quantity is exceeded, symptoms of poisoning appear. In some of 
the European states, the use of copper salts is prohibited, while 
in the United States they are permitted, provided the amount is 
given on the label. 


428 


RATIONAL DIET 


Formic Acid is a colorless liquid at temperatures above 50 de¬ 
grees F. It boils at 214 degrees F., has a pungent odor and strong 
caustic action when applied to the skin, causing pain and ulcera¬ 
tion. It occurs naturally in the bodies of ants and bees and in 
small quantities in various vegetable and animal substances. It is 
closely allied to acetic acid, but seems to be more powerful as a 
preservative. A water solution containing less than one per mille 
will entirely prevent the growth of yeasts and bacteria. A 60 per 
cent solution of formic acid is generally sold for preserving pur¬ 
poses, but its use is objectionable, as even small doses continuously 
used will produce irritation of the stomach. 

Saccharine is a white powder, composed of irregular crystals 
whose melting point is above 440 degrees F. It is soluble in 230 
parts of cold water and 30 parts of alcohol. Its aqueous solution is 
distinctly acid in reaction. Its antiseptic properties are about 
equal to those of boric acid. The use of saccharine in foods is not 
allowed under the federal law, as it has been found that quantities 
over 0.3 grain or one grain per day used for a considerable time 
were apt to produce digestive disturbances. While the use of 
saccharine in foods is allowed in certain disease, like diabetes, there 
is absolutely no reason to give such preparations to patients, as they 
work irreparable injury. A faulty metabolism will not be corrected 
by simply withholding the natural sugars and giving artificial 
sweets instead, as only a sufficient supply of alkaline elements in 
foods will aid in restoring the natural function of the digestive 
organs. 

Saccharine, besides being a preservative, belongs to the intensely 
sweet coal-tar derivatives that in themselves possess no food value 
whatsoever. This high sweetening power, in some cases several 
hundred times that of cane sugar, makes it possible for minute 
quantities of the substance to impart an appropriate degree of 
sweetness to food products. Commercial glucose, which is con¬ 
siderably less sweet than cane sugar, is often used instead of the 
latter in the preparations of jellies, jams, preserves, etc., to which 
a very small quantity of saccharine is added to increase the 
sweetness of the product that would otherwise have a bland taste. 
Canned vegetables, such as sweet corn and peas are occasionally 
treated with saccharine, especially if their sweet, fresh taste was 
partly lost before canning. The addition of one part of saccharine 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 429 

to 1,000 parts of commercial glucose makes the latter as sweet as 
cane sugar. 

Formaldehyde, which in its pure state is a gas, is usually sold 
under the name of “formalin,” which consists of a 40 per cent 
solution in water or dilute alcohol. For the preservation of milk 
it is frequently used in a weaker solution, about one per cent. If 
exposed to the air, it readily undergoes oxidation into formic acid. 
Some of its properties are its power to harden protein, and its 
retarding action on the various digestive ferments. Even when 
highly diluted, formalin has a more deleterious effect in the diges¬ 
tive processes than boron compounds. Formalin is now used by 
undertakers for embalming purposes. 

Sulphurous Acid is chiefly employed as fumes of burning 
sulphur, applied either to the food products themselves in the 
course of manufacture or to the containers in which the food 
products are held. When sulphurous acid is used as a preservative 
for food products, it is usually employed in the form of bisulphite 
of lime, or some similar preparation. 

Despite all the efforts of Dr. Harvey W. Wiley to have the poison 
prohibited, the advocates of food preservatives have been partially 
successful, having secured permission to use sulphurous acid, upon 
the condition that they print a notice to that effect on the labels 
of products containing it. As a rule very small type is used, so 
that the printed notice escapes the eye of the consumer, who, in 
most instances, is ill informed about the real effect of preservatives. 
Dr. Wiley, with the collaboration of W. D. Bigelow, F. C. Weber, 
and others, has made very extensive and painstaking investigations 
to determine the effects of sulphurous acid and sulphites on di¬ 
gestion and health. The findings have been published in Bulletin 
No. 84, Part 111, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of 
Chemistry, from which the following data, in part, are taken: 

In the technical use of sulphurous acid in the manufacture 
of food products, only the fumes of burning sulphur are employed. 
Fruits, pared or unpared, are subjected, after the removal of the 
pit or core, to sulphur fumes in what is known as a “sulphur box”; 
similarly in the manufacture of syrups and molasses it is not un¬ 
usual to expose the freshly made juice of the sugar-cane to the 
fumes of burning sulphur. The “sulphur box” used in this case 
is so constructed that the juice falling over shelves by gravity 


RATIONAL DIET 


430 

absorbs the fumes of the burning sulphur rising from the box, which 
serves as a chimney. The sulphur dioxide becomes incorporate with 
the components of the juice, forming more or less stable compounds 
which are not entirely broken up by subsequent boiling. When 
sugar is made there is a concentration of the sulphur compounds 
in the molasses and this concentration becomes greater in propor¬ 
tion to the amount of sugar crystals removed. In the low grades 
of molasses sulphur is found naturally in extraordinarily large 
quantities. In the preparation of dried apples, apricots, peaches, 
peas, raisins, figs and many other light-colored fruits, sulphuring is 
practiced for the following reasons: 

1. To produce as clear and intense a yellow or whitish color 
as possible. 

2. To conceal decayed portions of the fruit which have been 
overlooked in the trimming. 

3. To prevent fermentation and decay during the drying of the 
fruit. 

4. To protect the fruit during drying, from flies and other in¬ 
sects, the larvae of which would otherwise develop after the fruit 
was stored. 

5. To kill the cells of the fruit, and thus make the texture more 
porous, which expedites drying. 

It is a well-known fact that highly sulphured fruits are pre¬ 
served with a lower degree of desiccation than those not sulphured, 
because a greater weight of fruit is produced from a given weight 
of the raw material when sulphur is used. It is not difficult to pre¬ 
serve a water content of 30 per cent. 

The only arguments of any force favoring the use of sulphurous 
acid in food products are those which relate either to the preser¬ 
vation of the fruit or to its color. As the proper preservation of the 
produce can be easily secured with only a slight change in color, 
these arguments cannot justify the continued use of sulphurous acid 
and sulphite, which never add anything to the flavor of foods, but 
render both less palatable and less healthful. All sulphur com¬ 
pounds produce an injurious influence on the metabolism of the 
body. They add an immense burden to the already overworked 
kidneys, wdiich are called upon to remove nearly all of the added 
sulphur previously converted, to an appreciable extent, into sul¬ 
phuric acid. 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 


431 


Another effect which the use of sulphured foods produces, and 
one of even more serious character, is found in the impoverishment 
of the blood in respect to the number of red and white corpuscles 
contained therein. The use of a substance which interferes with de¬ 
velopment of these important component particles of the blood must 
be regarded as being highly prejudicial to health. The evidence 
all points to the fact that sulphur compounds are purely drugs, 
exerting deleterious and harmful effects upon the metabolic proc¬ 
esses. 

With the improved methods of fruit and vegetable dehydration 
in which temperature, moisture, and air currents can be perfectly 
regulated, as shown in Chapter VIII, there remains no excuse for 
the production of sulphured food products, except to satisfy an 
artificially created demand for light colored foods and to comply 
with falsely established commercial standards. 

Unsulphured dehydrated fruits have a better flavor and are 
sweeter than the highly sulphured products which should be avoided 
both from the standpoint of health as well as economy. 

Artificial Food Colors may be divided into animal, vegetable, 
mineral, and synthetic coal tar dyes. Their use has greatly in¬ 
creased during recent years. Vegetable and mineral colors have 
been largely displaced by coal tar or animal colors, which are now 
used extensively in the preparation of foodstuffs and drinks. Here 
again the consumer has been misled by the creation of a false 
standard. The attractive coloring of jellies, jams, ketchups, soft 
drinks, etc., mislead the public into thinking that the genuine 
products are inferior, and establish a demand for unnaturally col¬ 
ored varieties. With a few exceptions, coloring matters in food are 
used to deceive the public as to the true character of the articles 
sold. The intelligent consumer should object to the use of coloring 
matter in foods, not only from the standpoint of health, but also for 
economic reasons, for the goods are made to appear of greater value 
than they really are. 

Various countries have enacted specific laws regulating the 
use of coloring matters in foods, especially England, France, Ger¬ 
many, Austria and Italy. In the United States no coloring matter 
is to be used unless each package is marked “artificially colored.” 

One of the principal animal colors employed is cochineal, con¬ 
sisting of the dried bodies of insects living on the cochineal fig—• 


432 


RATIONAL DIET 


a species of cactus, cultivated in Mexico, Central and South Ameri¬ 
ca, especially for the sake of the cochineal insect. It is used in 
ketchups, cordials, confections and other food products. 

The principal vegetable dyes used are annatto, turmeric, cam¬ 
wood, logwood, saffron, carrot juice, indigo and gamboge. Annatto 
has been principally used by dairy farmers for butter. It is an 
extract from the red pulp which covers the seeds of a South Ameri¬ 
can tree, bexia orellana, is usually sold as aqueous extract, or dis¬ 
solved in cottonseed oil, and has also been used for the coloring of 
margarine. 

Turmeric is extracted by alcohol from the root of rootstock of 
an East Indian plant, curcuma-long a. It is of a brilliant yellow or 
saffron color, has a slight aromatic odor, and a bitter, slightly acrid 
taste. 

Logwood is the heart-wood of a South American tree. It is a 
red, heavy wood, containing a yellow, crystalline coloring matter; 
camwood, which is similar to logwood, is the product of a West 
African tree. 

Saffron is a bulbous plant, whose deep yellow flowers are used 
in the preparation of a yellow color of the same name. It is often 
used for coloring cakes and pies to give them a richer appearance, 
suggesting the plentiful use of eggs. 

Carrot Juice is frequently employed for coloring butter and 
margarine. 

Indigo is a blue coloring matter obtained from the tropical plant 
indig of era tincteria, and is formed by the decomposition of a pe¬ 
culiar substance called indican, which exists in the juice of the 
plant. Indigo is obtained by steeping the plant in water till the 
indican is decomposed by fermentation, when the coloring matter is 
precipitated in the form of a blue sediment which forms the indigo 
of commerce. It assumes a coppery luster by friction with a hard 
body, is lighter than water, and insoluble in it, and is, therefore, 
suited only for solid foods. It has been used for coloring con¬ 
fectionery, unroasted coffee and tea. With concentrated sulphuric 
acid the dry material becomes yellowish, changing slowly to blue- 
green. 

Gamboge is a condensed juice, or gum resin, produced by 
several species of trees growing in Siam, Ceylon and Malabar. 
It is brought in bulk, or cylindrical rolls from Gambogia, whence its 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 


433 


name. It is of a dense compact texture and a beautiful reddish- 
yellow. Taken internally it acts like a strong cathartic. 

Mineral dyes have been mostly replaced by anilin dyes, with 
the exception of copper sulphate and oxides of iron, the former 
being practically the sole substance used for preserving the color 
of green vegetables, as none of the newly discovered dyes have been 
found to produce the desired effect. Formerly the use of such 
pigments as chromate of lead was common in coloring confectionery, 
but their use has been almost entirely abandoned. 

Other mineral substances unfit for use in food on account of 
their poisonous effects are those which contain salts of arsenic, 
mercury and lead. Chloride of tin was at one time extensively 
used to neutralize the natural color of beet sugar, causing it to 
resemble Demerara Sugar, thus fraudulently increasing the com¬ 
mercial value of the former. 

Ultramarine is a blue pigment originally obtained by powdering 
an aluminous mineral (lazuli) of a rich blue color. It was so called 
because the mineral was originally brought from Asia. Granulated 
sugar is usually treated with a weak solution of ultramarine to 
remove the natural yellow color. 

Prussian Blue (cyanide of potassium and iron) is a salt of a 
beautiful deep blue color, and is often used with ultramarine for 
coloring tea. The Chinese and Japanese are careful not to color 
the tea which they themselves consume, but only that intended for 
export. In Europe, where a great deal of coffee is sold unroasted 
to the consumer, most of the cheaper grades of coffee are colored 
by putting the beans in a revolving drum and adding some finely 
powdered coloring matter. 

Coal Tar Dyes are the most extensively used for all artificial 
colors, since their production has been perfected. They are practi¬ 
cally unlimited in variety, and are chiefly sold in the form of 
powders. The water soluble varieties are readily made into solu¬ 
tions for food colors, while the insoluble forms are mixed into 
pastes. The soluble dyes are used in the manufacture of confec¬ 
tionery, soft drinks, jellies, jams, meat, especially sausages, dairy 
products and wines. Oil-solutions of coal-tar dyes are also employed 
for coloring butter and margarine. Pastes made from insoluble 
dyes are adapted mainly for exterior coatings of hard substances 
such as candies. The quantity of dye is generally very small, rarely 


434 


RATIONAL DIET 


exceeding 1 part in 1,000 and being often less than 1 part in 10,000. 
Coal tar dyes are permitted under the Federal Law, but the use of 
any dye, harmless or otherwise, to color food in a manner whereby 
damage, or inferiority is concealed, is in violation of Sec. 7 of the 
Foods and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. The addition of all mineral 
or metallic dyes, and all coal-tar dyes, other than those specially 
provided for, is also prohibited. Although it is claimed that some 
of these dyes are added because of purely aesthetic consideration, it 
should be every intelligent housekeeper’s duty to stop the practice 
of coloring food, by refusing to buy such articles, for all artificial 
dyes, if taken internally, are harmful. 

Coal tar dyes are also largely used in the concoction of imita¬ 
tion fruit juice beverages with which the market is flooded today, 
and the consumption of these products has naturally increased very 
greatly since the passing of the Volstead Act. According to W. 
W. Skinner, Chief Chemist of the Water and Beverage Laboratory, 
U. S. Bureau of Chemistry, there are over 12,000 bottlers of bev¬ 
erages in the United States, doing an estimated annual business 
of approximately $150,000,000, and this does not include soda 
fountain beverages. The larger demand for real fruit juices has 
led to the development and sale of many imitation products, fla¬ 
vored either with essential oils, or extracts made from them, or 
largely from synthetic products, but which, in order to take ad¬ 
vantage of the growing popularity of fruit juice products, are 
advertised in a very deceptive manner. These advertisements 
either claim or imply on the label, or in the advertising matter of 
bill boards, that the product is made from whole ripe fruit. 

This deception has been practiced to such an extent that the 
Bureau of Chemistry has issued the following new ruling in 1920: 

“Terms, such as ‘ade,’ ‘squash,’ ‘punch,’ ‘crush’ and ‘smash’ 
can be applied properly only to beverages, either still or carbon¬ 
ated, which contain the juice or edible portion of a fruit. These 
terms should not be applied to products flavored only with es¬ 
sential oils or essences unless plainly labeled as imitations. . . . 

It is further held that any turbid or ‘cloudy’ orange or other fruit 
flavored beverage, which does not contain either an appreciable 
quantity of the juice or edible portion of orange or other fruit 
named, should be labeled plainly as an imitation.” 

Many of the so-called fruit drinks are made from concentrates 
or syrups manufactured by producers in some of the large cities. 


ADULTERATION OP FOODS 


435 


These concentrates or syrups may be made from fruit juice or 
pulp—which may constitute as much as 50 per cent of the product 
—but this syrup may be so fortified with essential oils or extracts 
that when the bottler gets it he simply dilutes it with plain syrup to 
such a degree that if it is added at the rate of one ounce to the 
bottle of the finished beverage, the original fruit juice has been 
so diluted that it has almost disappeared. 

All so-called soft drinks containing cane sugar syrup and ar¬ 
tificial coloring matter are decidedly unwholesome. Fresh or 
pasteurized fruit juices should always be given the preference, but 
they must be sipped slowly, as they are really liquid foods. 

Metallic Impurities, especially the salts of lead and tin, are com¬ 
monly found in varying amounts in nearly all classes of products 
put up in tin. The quantity dissolved depends largely on the char¬ 
acter of the tin plate used in the manufacture of the can, also 
on the nature of the food product and its acidity. Although the 
quantities of metal dissolved are small, yet the basic action of 
even a diminutive amount of lead salts is well known. The uni¬ 
versal use of tin cans has led health authorities to closely watch 
for excess of tin and lead from careless soldering, with the result 
that today only the best quality of tin and lap solder on the out¬ 
side are found on standard goods. The danger from the solution 
of tin and lead is of course much greater when canned goods 
are regularly used, as for instance in mining camps, or on board 
sailing vessels. Unsulphured evaporated fruits or vegetables 
should always be given the preference. 

The bleaching of flour is done chiefly for the purpose of satisfy¬ 
ing an unjustified demand for snow white flour. Bolted flour is bad 
enough but by placing bleached flour before an unsuspecting 
public, the millers have simply further lowered the value of their 
product from a hygienic point of view. During the World War 
people were compelled to live on all kinds of unbolted flours, 
middlings, etc., in order that more of the supposedly more nutri¬ 
tious white flour could be shipped to the armies in the field. At 
that time many people found out, much to their surprise, how 
much more satisfying and wholesome the darker looking whole 
wheat products are. 

However, the bleaching of flour is still practiced; evidently the 
majority of consumers cannot yet adjust themselves to the darker 


436 


RATIONAL DIET 


looking, but more nutritious unbolted kinds. According to present 
standards, the grade or quality of flour is largely determined by 
its appearance, odor, and color as well as by its fineness, as indi¬ 
cated by rubbing it between the fingers. A very minute amount 
of nitric peroxide will remove the yellow tint of an inferior grade 
of flour, so that it can be sold as a much higher grade. The sale 
of bleached flour is therefore generally held to be illegal. 

Before the passage of the Federal Pure Food Law, the larger 
part of flour produced in the United States was bleached by nitro¬ 
gen peroxide, but as a result of a stricter enforcement of federal 
regulations the practice has diminished. The millers still assert 
that bleaching does not deteriorate the quality of the flour. The 
gas used in bleaching is generated by electrical, chemical, or elec¬ 
tro-chemical means, and is diluted wflth air before treatment of the 
flour. In the so-called Alsop Process, which is most commonly 
employed, it is formed by a flaming discharge of electricity, which 
causes the nitrogen and oxygen of the air to combine. The yellow 
tint of the flour is quickly destroyed by the gas, which also forms 
nitrous and nitric acids with the flour. A considerable part of the 
nitrous acid remains in yeast bread after baking and nearly all of 
it in soda biscuit. There is no doubt that bleaching affects the 
quality of gluten and injures the flavor of bread. It is really a pity 
to contemplate how the wheat farmers are selling the natural whole 
wheat to the millers and buying in return a very much devitalized 
flour, which lays the foundation for many human ills. Small flour 
mills, driven by electricity, could be easily established in every 
community and supply the people with really good and whole¬ 
some grain flours. 

The bleaching of corn by artificial means before canning is 
usually accomplished by boiling the corn with sodium sulphite, 
thus giving the product an unnaturally white color. The practice 
seems to have been more in vogue some years ago than at present, 
the popular taste now apparently preferring the natural rich yel¬ 
low corn. 

Animal Glue is often used in foods. Americans spend about 
$250,000,000 annually for ice cream. While some of the better 
grades are legitimate, and contain the required amount of eight per 
cent butter-fat, the cheaper grades are abominable concoctions, 
which are prepared with gelatin or glue. 


ADULTERATION OF FOODS 


437 


Alfred McCann, the well known writer, in “Physical Culture 
Magazine,” recently investigated the finest ice cream plant in the 
state of New Jersey. The ice cream was properly pasteurized and 
actually contained a minimum of twelve per cent butter-fat instead 
of the eight per cent required by law. The chocolate flavor was 
made up of cocoa-powder, the fat of which had been saponified by 
the chemical action of ammonium hydroxide. Among the fruit fla¬ 
vors were combinations of oenanthic ether, nitrous ether, acetic 
ether and many other synthetic “fruit essences.” While the cream 
was apparently legal as far as the amount of butter fat was con¬ 
cerned, yet it had, aside from the artificial flavor, another charac¬ 
teristic which it shared with many other kinds of ice cream. It 
could stand for hours in the sun without melting, because it was 
“bodified” with glue. 

In communicating with the manufacturer, McCann made the 
following report: 

“The stuff they (the packers) make is glue and is intended for 
commercial purposes only. They declare its legitimate use should 
be confined to paper box manufacturers, shoemakers, cabinet 
makers, carpenters, etc. That it finds its way into human food 
through the instrumentality of jobbers and brokers after it leaves 
the Armour glue works is an unhappy state of facts for which 
Armour and Company declare they cannot hold themselves re¬ 
sponsible. 

“In New York when they receive an order for edible gelatine 
they are obliged to treat it as a ‘ re-sale’ and go out on the market 
for it as an accommodation to their patrons. 

“You can appreciate the rotten significance of this statement of 
fact. Everywhere I go I find barrels of glue made by the packers. 
The stuff is being used as ‘gelatine’ for the frozen dainties sold 
to children, and in many instances a high price is paid for it, yet 
packers themselves, when appealed to, denounce its use. 

“I suggest that you take steps at once to secure a supply of 
fool-proof, edible gelatine, free from sulphites, free from arsenic, 
free from lead, free from zinc, free from gas-producing organisms 
disclosing the presence of filth; free from gluey flavor and gluey 
odor. The probability is that when you do this, you will be the 
only ice cream manufacturer in the whole metropolitan district 
decent enough to put gelatine instead of glue into your ice cream. ’ ’ 

The official records of the New York Health Department reveal 
that in June, 1921, out of 1,400 samples of ice cream analyzed, 
78 per cent were adulterated. Many of the adulterated products 


438 


RATIONAL DIET 


contained as little as two per cent fat. Glue was used in almost 
every instance. 

Director Ole Salthe of the Food Inspection Bureau undertook 
a series of prosecutions and by December, 1921, he had cut down 
the adulterations from 78 per cent to 28 per cent. His disclosures 
show how corrupt and indecent the situation was, while the public 
had not the slightest suspicion of what was going on. It is said 
that many of the chocolate covered ice cream bars, now widely ad¬ 
vertised, contain a very inferior and deleterious filling. 

There is no doubt that multitudes of people, even in the smaller 
cities and towns, are suffering from impure food, and are looking 
to the law-makers for protection. It never seems to occur to these 
people that most of the food eaten should be of such nature, that 
its wholesomeness should simply be a question of its hygienic 
preparation from the time of production until it reaches the table. 

The ideal way for the solution of this problem is for every 
family, whenever possible, to have its own little garden and orchard 
to preserve its own fruit and vegetables, and to use ready made 
foods only in an emergency. Many of the commercially prepared 
products may not be distinctly poisonous, but their nutrition and 
hygienic value have been in most instances greatly diminished and 
impaired. 


CHAPTER XII 

Faulty Nutrition and Disease 

One of the surprising facts developed by the World War was 
Ihe alarming condition of our national health. Pressed by the 
exigencies of our commercial age, we never stopped long enough 
to take a good look at ourselves, and to find out the real causes of 
rapidly increasing diseases during childhood and middle age, when 
the vitality should be at its maximum. 

When war was declared by the United States against the 
Central Powers in the early spring of that memorable year 1917, 
the American people were given their first opportunity to take a 
thorough inventory of their state of health. Nearly four millions 
of men between the ages of eighteen and thirty years were in¬ 
ducted into war service, and in order to secure this force, a very 
much larger number had to be examined because an astonishing 
proportion of those of draft age were rejected for serious physical 
and mental defects. After the first million had passed examina¬ 
tion, the large proportion of physically unfit aroused general con¬ 
sternation, except perhaps among the few who understood the 
causes involved. Equally surprising was the vast number of il¬ 
literates discovered. 

The reports of Surgeon General Rupert Blue, in the American 
Journal of Public Health, September, 1919; the Public Health Re¬ 
port of the Treasury Department, March, 1918, and the Report of 
the War Department, edited by Surgeon General Ireland, in 1920, 
give some very significant facts. 

General Ireland’s report is very exhaustive. It deals with 
nearly three million men, from the ages of eighteen to thirty, the 
majority approaching the latter age; and enumerates both the 
defectives and the rejected with their classification. Each of the 
recruited men passed through the hands of from four to twelve 
examiners, so that errors and inequalities should be fairly well 
balanced on the average. It must also be considered that the max¬ 
imum age of the examined was thirty years, while a larger pro¬ 
portion of men in this country are between thirty and fifty years 
of age, when the defective conditions of the body, often more or 


439 


440 


RATIONAL DIET 


less latent in early years, begin to reveal themselves. Comparing 
the cases of heart and kidney diseases of the drafted men with 
the statistics of the life insurance companies, it appears that the 
draft examiners found sixteen per cent affected with these diseases 
while the percentage reported by the life insurance companies 
was as high as fifty-six. 

Of the nearly three million men drafted, about fifty per cent 
had some serious defects, while a large number had multiple de¬ 
fects, such as diseases of the principal vital organs—heart, lungs, 
blood-vessels and brain—and diseases that are dependent on low¬ 
ered resistance, such as tuberculosis. 

Men coming from different portions of the United States showed 
different defects, owing apparently to the habits of the regions 
where they had lived. The government report summarized these 
differences, as follows: 

“The northeastern part of the country appears to be charac¬ 
terized by congenital defects, and those of city life. The northwest 
is characterized by deformities due to accidents, by goitre, and by 
flat foot. The southeast is characterized by venereal diseases, 
hookworm, and other similar complications, including blindness 
of one eye, arthritis and ankylosis, underweight, mental defect, 
emotional disturbances, pellagra, hernia, loss of upper extremity, 
and bullet or other wounds. The southwest is characterized by 
tuberculosis, drug addiction, hypertrophied tonsils and hernia. 
The northern central area is contrasted with the southern central 
by having more goitre, less tuberculosis, much less venereal dis¬ 
ease, more varicocele and more varicose veins, more diseases of 
the heart and nervous system, and more deficient teeth. It is 
characterized by more cases of defective eye-sight, diabetes and 
curvature of the spine.’’ 

Another fact has been revealed by the examinations. Certain 
sections of the country, with occupational or racial peculiarities, 
show vastly different proportions of defectiveness. In this re¬ 
spect some of the oldest elements of our population have the high¬ 
est number of defectives. For instance, the Anglo-Saxon coloni¬ 
al type is slowly disappearing, as the result of a deficient birth 
rate. The French Canadians have a high birth rate and an equally 
high defective rate, while the Southern States with a large negro 
population show the largest number of defectives. 

California, strange as it may seem, ranks with the states show¬ 
ing the highest percentage of rejected men. This may be ex- 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


441 


plained by the fact that California serves as a place of refuge for 
invalids of all kinds. The excessive death rate in some of the 
California cities is also to be attributed to this condition. 

The examination of about thirty thousand school children in 
San Francisco also revealed some startling facts: 26 per cent were 
found to be under weight; 38 per cent showed postural defects; 
91 per cent had defective teeth; 27 per cent had enlarged ton¬ 
sils ; 25 per cent had adenoids; 7 per cent had anemia. It appears 
that quite a number of the children were afflicted with several de¬ 
fects. Among the defective children a great number of the wealth¬ 
ier classes were represented, suffering mostly from mal-nutrition. 
Coffee and toast constitute the breakfast for a large majority of 
adults, and unfortunately it is also the fare of a lamentably 
large number of children. This, too, occurs in a state where fresh 
or dried fruit may be secured every month of the year, but owing 
to a lack of true education on the part of parents, many of them 
are afraid to permit their children to have the fruit they natur¬ 
ally crave. 

Dr. Clark of the Public Health Service, Washington, who has 
examined many thousands of school children in different por¬ 
tions of this country, reported that ninety per cent of the school 
children have from one to eleven cavities in their teeth. It is 
but natural that bad teeth are accompanied by other manifesta¬ 
tions of physical inferiority. 

Among nearly 100,000 children in New York City, about one- 
third were found to have such defective eyesight as to require 
glasses. In Philadelphia 60 per cent of the children examined 
showed marked eye-strain or defective vision and 354 pupils 
were discovered who could not read ordinary writing on the black¬ 
board even at the distance of a few feet, and could only with dif¬ 
ficulty make out the print in their books. In Massachusetts, out¬ 
side of Boston, 20 per cent of the pupils were found defective in 
vision. 

The number of children with defective hearing or diseased 
ears in our schools is large. Massachusetts reported 27,000 pupils 
with defective hearing in the year 1907. Investigations in fifteen 
different cities led to the estimate that nearly 50,000 children in 
Pennsylvania are unable to reap the full advantage of instruction 
given, because of defective hearing. 


442 


RATIONAL DIET 


Many dull children are so because the eye or the ear, both ave¬ 
nues for the reception of knowledge, is in a diseased condition. 
The defects in the senses may and often do exert a baneful influ¬ 
ence throughout life but they are not so likely to weaken physi¬ 
cal vigor and invite diseases as defects in the teeth. 

The reason that we are a nation of dyspeptics lies largely in the 
fact that children are irrationally fed during school years, which 
inevitably results, among other evils, in impaired teeth. An ex¬ 
amination of 79,000 children in New York Schools showed that 
29,386 possessed one or more decayed teeth. In Strassburg, the 
first city in the world to adopt dental inspection, 97^ per cent 
of the school children were found to have diseased teeth. Eighty 
per cent of the children in Great Britain’s industrial schools suf¬ 
fer from decayed teeth. In Germany, among 20,000 children be¬ 
tween the ages of 6 and 16, 19,000 were found to have caries to a 
marked degree. 

In striking contrast with this pitiful condition of our rising 
generation is that of the aboriginal tribes of the Pacific Coast 
from Alaska down to Peru. In the National Museum at Washing¬ 
ton there are about four hundred skulls of what we are pleased to 
call “half-civilized” peoples, dating as far back as the time of 
discovery of this continent. These skulls exhibit no indication 
of teeth decay. The teeth and jaws are well developed, and while 
the teeth show an occasional mechanical injury, there are no signs 
of caries. 

On the other hand, thousands of the North American Indians 
at present deprived of their hunting grounds and forests, and 
forced to live on the products furnished by grocery stores, such as 
canned meats, milled cereals, refined sugar and distilled liquors, 
are plainly showing signs of physical deterioration. They are 
gradually dying of tuberculosis, cancer and other diseases of 
civilization. 

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that proper diet in infan¬ 
cy is the most important factor in the preservation of health, as 
nearly all so-called “children’s diseases” are caused by improper 
feeding. The period of early childhood is decisive for the remain¬ 
der of one’s life, and the amount of vitality necessary to resist 
injurious influences, aside from heredity, depends largely upon the 
quality of nourishment the infant receives. “The child is father 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


443 


to the man,” and as the formation of a strong and healthy body 
is necessary for the development of a strong and healthy mind, 
the importance of a sound foundation for the growing organism 
is evident. It is here where prevention of disease must begin, and 
not in the bacteriological laboratories. 

There are about two million babies born in this country every 
year, and of these approximately one-fourth die under five years 
of age. About fifty per cent of these deaths occur before the age 
of one year is reached. We are therefore compelled to acknowledge 
the loss of one quarter million of newly born children every year, 
while one-third of the children born do not attain the age of fif¬ 
teen years. 

Infant mortality remains one of the biggest problems that 
confronts our western civilization. For years it has been the 
object of serious concern to governments and municipalities not 
only of this country, but also of France, Germany and England; 
and yet despite everything that has been done to avert the peril, 
the total mortality of infants has not appreciably decreased. 

Indiscriminate feeding is at the root of this, as well as of 
most children’s diseases. In fact, so appalling is the ignorance of 
the majority of parents in regard to feeding their children, that 
if nature had not endowed the growing organism with wonderful 
powers of resistance, the percentage of deaths would be much 
larger than it is. As a matter of fact, many children survive 
despite parental ignorance. 

According to statistics, the American people spend for food 
materials annually about seven billion dollars which are distribu¬ 
ted as follows: 


Meat, poultry, and fish about 


Eggs 


Milk 

Cheese 

Butter and other fats 
Grain products 
Sugar, molasses etc. 


$2,800,000,000 

400,000,000 

500,000,000 

50,000,000 

500,000,000 

1,000,000,000 

500,000,000 


Vegetables, including canned goods 500,000,000 

Fruits, including canned goods 300,000,000 

Nuts < 50,000,000 

Miscellaneous, including spices, 

condiments, etc. 400,000,000 


40 

6 

7 

7 

14 

7 

7 

4 


per 
< < 


cent 


% 


% 

61/2 


(( 


l ( 


(i 


(i 


t i 


< < 


i < 


i ( 


< ( 


( < 
i i 
< < 
< < 
i i 
< < 
(< 
i < 
( t 

(i 


It should be noted that of the whole list of foods only two 


444 


RATIONAL DIET 


items—fruit and vegetables—supply acid-binding or alkaline ele¬ 
ments in sufficient quantity, and these two important items repre¬ 
sent only eleven per cent of the total expenditure. Furthermore, 
vegetables are generally prepared in such manner that they lose 
a large proportion of their essential organic salts, while with 
canned fruits, syrup made from refined sugar is added, which im¬ 
pairs the hygienic value of the fruit. Cow’s milk is a neutral 
food, but becomes acid-forming when boiled or sterilized. We 
know that most of the cereals eaten are demineralized and defi¬ 
cient in vitamins; flesh meat, which constitutes nearly half of the 
ration of the American people, besides being highly acid-forming 
contains a large quantity of the waste products of animal life, 
which overtax the excretory organs and gradually undermine 
health and vitality. 

While the appalling results of these mistakes are often plainly 
visible, even in early childhood, they make themselves felt more 
intensely past middle life, giving rise to constipation, gout, rheu¬ 
matism, liver and kidney diseases, hardening of the arteries, cancer, 
tuberculosis, etc. Surgical operations to “cure” the effects of 
years of wrong-doing are not only futile but lay the foundations for 
chronic disease. 

It is but natural that the abnormal condition of the blood, 
caused by irrational diet, creates a desire for stimulants and nar¬ 
cotics to deaden the effect of the poisons and toxins that are con¬ 
stantly accumulating in the system. Before the passage of the 
prohibition amendment and the Volstead Act, the American people 
spent about one billion dollars every year for alcoholic beverages. 
Despite the efforts to enforce the law, the habits of the people 
have not appreciably changed, as a similar amount is now prob¬ 
ably invested in home brew materials, and other stimulants and 
drugs. In fact, the grape growers who expected to be financially 
ruined by prohibition are now receiving higher prices for their 
grapes than ever before. So great is the demand for wine grapes 
that the best qualities bring five times as much as the wineries 
formerly paid. 

Tobacco is another big item in our annual expenditures for 
stimulants: 

$800,000,000—for tobacco and snuff 
800,000,000—for cigarettes 
500,000,000—for cigars. 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


445 


In brief, over two billions are yearly going up in smoke. The 
use of tobacco is unquestionably one of the causes of our increas¬ 
ing enervation. 

For ice cream and candy, over $500,000,000 are spent annually; 
for coffee, tea and cocoa, $750,000,000; and for chewing gum, not 
less than $50,000,000. The products represented by these enor¬ 
mous amounts add nothing to our health and vitality, but could be 
spent to far better advantage for educational purposes and for 
bettering our social and economic conditions. 

“Civilized” man is digging his grave with his teeth, and to 
counteract the effects of his perverted dietetic habits he spends 
millions of dollars for drugs, patent medicines, serums and vac¬ 
cines. Unless we can change the mode of life that modern civ¬ 
ilization has brought with it, and simultaneously alter our eco¬ 
nomic system, mental and physical degeneration will increase. 

The theory that germs cause diseases such as tuberculosis, can¬ 
cer, etc., cannot stand in the light of reason. The human cell is 
the result of millions of years of evolution, and has therefore 
a much higher organization than the so-called germs of disease, 
which are simply scavengers, feeding only on devitalized and dying 
cells, the products of waste matter in the system, but never on 
healthy, living cells, which are impervious to all kinds of bacteria. 

It has been wisely said that if the germ theory of disease wer6 
true, there would be nobody alive to believe it, since we cannot 
sterilize the air we breathe. The only method for fighting disease 
is to increase health and vitality by rational eating and living, 
but unfortunately this viewpoint has not been given serious at¬ 
tention in our medical colleges. Bacteriology and symptomology 
still occupy the most prominent places in their curricula. We 
frequently find that for which we are seeking, and if it happens 
that we wish to prove a certain germ is responsible for a specific 
disease, as a rule we find the germ and our discovery is heralded 
as a great achievement to a credulous world. 

The famous physiologist, Rudolf Virchow, once one of the fore¬ 
most defenders of the germ theory, said in his later years: 

“If I could live my life over again, I would devote it to prov¬ 
ing that germs seek their natural habitat—diseased tissue—rather 
than being the cause of diseased tissue. ’ ’ 

Despite these facts which should be obvious to every logical 


446 


RATIONAL DIET 


thinker, the majority of medical men are still confounding effect 
with cause, regarding germs as responsible for disease. They still 
ignore the fact that pure blood and good circulation, the result of 
right living, and a cheerful condition of mind—in other words, 
sound health—are the greatest immunizing factors. Germs are pres¬ 
ent everywhere and we could not exclude them from our body by 
the most rigid system of disinfection or quarantine. If the germ of 
a disease imported into a community were the cause of an epi¬ 
demic it would never end. Professor Dr. Pettenkofer, of Munich, 
once swallowed cholera germs before an excited audience without 
suffering from the least indisposition. 

Doctors believe that they can prevent epidemics by vaccina¬ 
tion, but this is an assumption which is not based on biological 
facts, but on very dubious statistics. Epidemics came and went 
in times gone by, and doctors had nothing to do with their dis¬ 
appearance. The influenza raged several times during the last ten 
years and defied masks, quarantine, and every other measure that 
busy Boards of Health could dictate. The germ of influenza has 
been recently discovered by the Rockefeller Institute and soon 
mankind will be presented with a new kind of vaccine. Those who 
want to be vaccinated should follow their inclinations, but those 
who want to protect themselves by rational living should not be 
subjected to the dicta of pseudo-science. It goes without saying 
that in all epidemics most of the disease is psychological—a frenzy 
of fear resulting from the pernicious activities of interested peo¬ 
ple. 

To-day preventive medicine, as taught in colleges, is no further 
advanced than it was in the time of the barber Jenner, who in 
the year 1770, when nothing was known about physiological chem¬ 
istry, studied surgery and pharmacy in London. Jenner, while 
interested in the drug called “theriaca,” learned that it had been 
prepared by King Mithridates VI, who, being of a suspicious turn 
of mind lived in constant dread of being poisoned. He wanted 
to counteract any attempt which might be made against his life 
by systematically inuring himself to poison, and so compounded 
“theriaca,” taking it regularly in increasing doses. Such a story 
when once heard is never to be forgotten. Jenner did not forget 
it. While he was earning his living in Berkeley, England, by 
bleeding, by applying leeches, and by cupping, a farmer’s wife 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


447 


told him another story. She said to him that milking cows which 
had cowpox on their udders was a good thing to prevent smallpox. 
Her milkmaids after such milking had an eruption similar to 
cowpox, but she maintained that they never afterward became 
afflicted with smallpox. 

These two stories suggested to Jenner the remarkable medical 
system of inoculation with virulent poisons as a means of inuring 
the body against infection, and today orthodox medicine is still 
following in his footsteps. After a century and a half of mar¬ 
velous advancement in chemistry and physiology, we still find 
thousands of blind followers of a blind leader whose theories are 
on a level with the proponents of witch burning in the middle ages. 
Medical science, armed with microscopes and chests of re-agents, 
discovers germs and bacilli, invents serums, vaccines and anti-tox¬ 
ins, and still remains oblivious to the great truth that the real 
and ultimate cause of disease is beyond the reach of the micro¬ 
scope and scalpel. 

The Vaccination Inquirer of London, England, recently pub¬ 
lished the following significant statement: 

“Cases of smallpox reported in the Philippines during 1918 
total 47,369 of which 16,447 died. Manila, the most thoroughly 
vaccinated place in the islands, had the highest mortality—65.3! 
While Mindanao, the least vaccinated had the lowest—11.4 per cent. 

“We have never before, on a large total of cases, heard of such 
a fatality as 65.3 per cent. Considering that the sanitary engi¬ 
neers had been busiest in Manila; considering that they had an 
up-to-date ‘scientific’ medical staff, and considering the pre-Jenner 
mortality of smallpox only averaged 18 per cent, it will tax even 
medical ingenuity to explain away that shocking figure of 65.3. 
Such an incidence and such a fatality in a sanitary town almost 
force us to the conclusion that vaccination itself unusually 
thorough and frequent, was responsible for evoking and prolong¬ 
ing the outbreak.” 

Chief Surgeon Lippincott reports from the Philippines as fol¬ 
lows : 

“I can say that no army was ever so thoroughly vaccinated as 
ours. Vaccination and revaccination went on as systematically 
as the drills of a well-regulated post, yet four thousand of these 
same soldiers had smallpox, from which 200 of them died. For 
the two years ending June 30, 1900, 13,811 were on the sick list as 
the result of vaccination, many of whom died and many more were 
permanently disabled.” 


448 


RATIONAL DIET 


In Japan, from 1886 to 1905, the total vaccinations performed 
numbered 91,351,407 in an average population of 43,027,661. With 
all this vaccination between 1889 and 1908, Japan had 171,500 
cases of smallpox with a total of 48,000 deaths, a mortality of 28 
per cent. If vaccination could prevent smallpox, it certainly had 
a chance to prove its efficacy in these two countries. 

In this connection it should be mentioned that while much sani¬ 
tary engineering has been done in Manila since the American oc¬ 
cupation, diseases due to faulty nutrition among the natives are 
on the increase. 

Instead of drawing a lesson from these experiences, a few years 
later the same practices were repeated during the World War. 
Several millions of soldiers were vaccinated against smallpox and 
typhoid fever with the result that, while about fifty thousand 
died from the effects of bullets or poisonous gas, over two hundred 
thousand died in homes or hospitals from so-called infectious dis¬ 
eases, or rather medical malpractice. 

American milling processes, the production of peeled and pol¬ 
ished rice; the importation of white flour, canned goods, etc., are 
largely responsible for the high percentage of infant mortality 
and the prevalence of beriberi and other so-called tropical dis¬ 
eases, caused by a deficiency of organic salts in food. The fre¬ 
quent appearance of smallpox goes hand in hand with the dis¬ 
eased condition of the blood and lymph, and vaccination always 
aggravates this condition and still further lowers the vital resist¬ 
ance of the body. 

While in modern cities smallpox has decreased, a glance at the 
deplorable state of our children’s health, as revealed by careful 
examinations all over the country, suffices to convince us that it has 
been replaced by other diseases. Smallpox is easily cured, if nat¬ 
ural methods are employed, but the injurious effects of vaccine and 
serum inoculations and of unnecessary operations can seldom be 
remedied. 

Vaccination has nothing whatever to do with the disappear¬ 
ance of smallpox. If this disease is less frequent in modern com¬ 
munities, it is entirely due to improved sanitary conditions and 
better care of the human body in general, but it will always occur 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


449 


where people eat devitalized food and live under unsanitary con¬ 
ditions, despite vaccinations and revaccinations. 

Here are some of the extracts on the subject of contagion from 
the late Prof. 0. Rosenbach’s book, “Physician versus Bacteri¬ 
ologist”: 

“If the opportunity for infection were even approximately 
as great as the adherents of modern bacteriology depict it, no 
nurse or physician would expose themselves to danger. But, as a 
matter of fact, we observe that infection of those who are engaged 
in nursing the sick, and of those connected with them, although 
they usually do not and cannot act with great precaution in their 
intercourse with the patients, occurs by no means more frequently 
than is the case with people who have nothing to do with infectious 
patients, a fact which certainly furnishes proof that there is a 
wide gulf between the possibility and the probability of infec¬ 
tion. . . . 

“If a shower of rain pours down and many persons are 
drenched, may it then be said that one has been infected by the 
other with moisture? 

“ The microorganisms cannot harm us so long as our organism 
functions normally; they are harmless if the defensive measures of 
our body are in good condition. . . . 

“An unbiased investigation teaches more and more that what 
was believed could be considered the cause of disease is in many 
cases merely an unessential accompanying symptom. . . . 

“To attempt to fight against an epidemic disease by quaran¬ 
tine is about as foolish as to attempt to keep away evil spirits by 

affixing a horseshoe over the door, or by beating tom-toms. 

Cleanliness, external and internal cleanliness, is the only remedy 
for disease. ” 

The ancient astronomers undertook to solve the problems of 
their science with the theory that the sun revolves around the 
earth once in every twenty-four hours. Those of a wider vision 
who at that time tried to proclaim the truth were ridiculed, im¬ 
prisoned and burned at the stake. The old astronomers had the 
evidence of their own senses in favor of their theory! Could they 
not see with their own eyes that the sun rose in the east and set 
in the west? And could they not feel that the earth in relation 
to the sun stood still? 

Their logic was good, but their premise was wrong. They had 
taken their ingrained errors for established principles; they had 
taken an optical illusion for a working principle of natural law. 



450 


RATIONAL DIET 


A similar process of erroneous reasoning applies to the prac¬ 
tice of orthodox medical science, especially to the drug and se¬ 
rum treatment of disease. The cause of this error is a false theory 
of disease itself. Different species of bacteria have been discovered, 
and medical science claims that these tiny organisms, invisible to 
the naked eye, are the direct cause of various diseases, whereas 
their presence does not prove, by any means, that they create dis¬ 
ease, but rather that they are there as a result of a morbid con¬ 
dition of the body. Similarly does carrion attract vultures and 
flies. These micro-organisms instead of being responsible for 
specific diseases, are in most instances agents for neutralizing 
and removing foreign matters in the body that might otherwise 
prove harmful. Healthy and normal cells are absolutely imper¬ 
vious to bacteria. The healthy body, as a result of rational care 
and nutrition, has wonderful power of resistance. 

Disease is a process of purification of the system—an effort of 
nature to burn up and cast out quantities of waste matter and 
poisons that have their origin in our perverted dietetic and unhy¬ 
gienic habits. Nature does not provide any specific remedy for 
disease. She inflicts penalties for every transgression of her 
laws. When abnormal conditions arise in one’s system, the funda¬ 
mental cause must be found and removed, which as a rule is the 
accumulation of waste poisons, or toxemia. 

Nature, who develops an invisible cell into an organism of the 
highest perfection, knows how to restore normal conditions, if 
she is not hampered in her wise, but too often misunderstood meth¬ 
ods. She does not accept vicarious atonement in the shape of pills, 
powders, serums or vaccines, although the medical profession is 
as alert as ever to prove by statistics and other means, that it can 
change the natural biological processes. 

Suppression of disease is not cure, and nature cannot be 
forced into submission by medical dicta. Despite man’s petty inter¬ 
ference, she will continue building her great works even when the 
feeble creations of mind and hand shall have sunk into the sea 
of oblivion. The only way, therefore, that we can protect our¬ 
selves against disease is by living in harmony with nature’s im¬ 
mutable laws. 

At a recent meeting of the Commonwealth Club in California 
the problem of quarantine and vaccination of children against 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


451 


diphtheria was discussed. One of the attending physicians sar¬ 
castically remarked: 

“Of course, it is very comforting for a person who does not 
believe in vaccination to live in a community that is vaccinated, 
because, by virtue of the sacrifice, if it be such, that other people 
have taken, one can be immune to smallpox. If everybody else but 
himself is vaccinated, he does not then run the danger of infection 
by smallpox.” 

In the further course of discussion, Mr. C. C. Boynton, of 
Berkeley, a well known resident of that city, having a family of 
eight most beautiful and healthy children, who were never vacci¬ 
nated and were brought up entirely on natural, mostly uncooked 
foods, made the following remarks: 

“I have been informed by reliable medical authorities that 
in any group of normal people twenty-five per cent at any time 
are carriers of the diphtheria germ. Twenty-five per cent of you 
here are carriers of diphtheria germs; fifty per cent are carriers 
of pneumonia. If you are going to isolate the carriers, what is 
the outcome of it? The ordinary medical man is absolutely illogi¬ 
cal. 

“Now, I have known but one man who was absolutely logical 
on this physical theory of contagion. This was Professor Loeb, 
formerly of the University of California; and now by reason of 
his great and remarkable works, he is in the Carnegie or Rocke¬ 
feller Institute. He placed physical contagion on an absolutely 
logical plane, and with what success ? He recognized the presence 
of disease germs, and the result was that he realized that they were 
everywhere, and he would not permit you to go into his house, 
without first sterilizing your feet. He had no curtains on the 
walls by reason of the fact that germs could there assemble. Every 
room had its sterilization plant to destroy these germs. Yet, his 
next door neighbor, a distinguished professor of the University 
of California, told me that if a child’s disease came within forty 
miles of Berkeley the four children of Professor Loeb invariably 
got it.” 

There is something radically wrong with an educational sys¬ 
tem that fails to keep the growing generation in sound health. 
To be sure, many are born with low vitality and lessened powers 
of resistance, due to the ignorance of their parents, but even a 
weak body can be restored gradually to normal condition, if care¬ 
ful attention is paid to rational nutrition and all the other fac¬ 
tors necessary to the attainment of health and strength. 

In the present enervating struggle for existence man should 


452 


RATIONAL DIET 


first of all be taught how to take proper care of himself, how to 
develop mind and body in order that he may live a full and happy 
life—useful to himself and others. The study and teaching of 
rational nutrition should constitute an important part of every 
common school curriculum, as we can hardly expect that people, 
who know nothing about their bodily functions and the funda¬ 
mental laws of health governing them, will be able to maintain 
physical vigor in themselves and their offspring. 

Disease is never inherited, although faulty organization or pre¬ 
disposition to functional disease may be. If diseases appear in 
children, they are due to the same causes that produced them in 
the parents. 

In a study he has made of rural health and national well 
being, Dr. Irving Fisher, of Yale University, finds that only about 
one per cent of the people are well and free from impairment. He 
says: 

“What would we think if 99 per cent of a dairy herd, or of a 
flock of sheep were found impaired? It means that we are losing 
a large per cent of our rightful life, not only by death itself, which 
cuts off many years we might have lived, but also from disease 
and disabilities which are not fatal, but which cripple the power 
to work and mar the joy of living. We may assume that on the 
average for every death per annum there are two persons sick dur¬ 
ing the year. This makes about 3,000,000 people constantly lying 
on sick beds in the United States, of which on the most conserva¬ 
tive estimate, at least half need not have been there. If we trans¬ 
late these preventable losses into commercial terms, we find 
that even by the most conservative reckoning, this country is los¬ 
ing over $1,500,000,000 worth of wealth producing power every 
year. ’ ’ 

But the economic waste does not stop here. We have to em¬ 
ploy an army of physicians and nurses to look after these invalids; 
we have to maintain hospitals and asylums,—in short, a like amount 
is spent in trying to restore the health of those who are suffering 
as a consequence of their ignorance and helplessness. We may 
safely say that the American public spends annually over three 
billion dollars for doctors’ fees, drugs, and proprietary medicines, 
besides losing much valuable time and lowering vitality and power 
of resistance. 

The majority of people do not know what real health and effi¬ 
ciency mean; their vitality is constantly below par on account of 


FAULTY NUTRITION AND DISEASE 


453 


the neglect of personal hygiene. Indispositions are regarded as a 
matter of course, caused by the weather, or other external con¬ 
ditions. People have not as yet learned to look for the cause of 
disease within themselves. 

Bacteriology has led the medical profession in the wrong direc¬ 
tion, and it will take some time before its mistakes are generally 
recognized and publicly admitted. Commercialism and political 
influence are now so interwoven with the teaching and practice 
of medicine that it will need the combined efforts of all progres¬ 
sive thinkers to change the trend of thought of suffering humanity 
regarding the real cause of disease—enervation and lowered vitality 
due to wrong living. 


CHAPTER XIII 


Medical Science and the Cure of Disease 

Medical science has failed to solve the problem of health and 
disease through the employment of materia medica and surgical 
operations, because it has not yet mastered the great underlying 
principles governing the phenomena of life. It has not awakened 
to the fact that the body is an organic whole; that in the iast 
analysis diseases have one common source—diminished vital force 
or enervation, resulting from the retention of waste poison; that 
pain is but a logical symptom of general disorder; and that, finally, 
if any real and permanent benefit is to be achieved, successful 
treatment cannot consist in confining one’s efforts exclusively to 
the organ or part affected, but the organism must be treated in its 
entirety. 

Cures, like fashions, have come and gone. Such dubious rem¬ 
edies as anti-toxins, tuberculin, turtle’s blood, salvarsan, and a 
hundred others have been heralded to a suffering world as wonder¬ 
ful discoveries of medical science, only to be abandoned after a 
brief period as unsatisfactory. 

The tremendous growth of the drug industry in the United 
States is positive proof of the inability of the medical profession 
to treat their patients in a rational and efficient manner. During 
the last thirty years over forty thousand new remedies have been 
put on the market, and their number is constantly increasing. A 
statement by the Department of Commerce shows that more than 
four hundred million dollars’ worth of drug products were manu¬ 
factured in the United States alone during 1921. A world wide 
demand for laboratory examinations and surgical operations has 
been created, and the modern doctor’s treatment rooms, equipped 
with imposing apparatuses, are designed to convince the patient of 
the progress of the medical profession. Here he is confronted with 
X-ray machines, microscopes and other complicated parapher¬ 
nalia, whose primary aim is to instill the belief that everything 
worth knowing is beyond the ken of common minds; and that only 
those who have diplomas from leading universities and a row of 


454 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


455 


titles affixed to their names have the key to the problems of life. 
This atmosphere of mystery and awe has a most depressing effect 
upon the mind of the patient, and tends to rob him of the last 
vestige of confidence in nature’s healing forces. The mania for 
looking everywhere for the cause of his ailment, except in his own 
perverted dietetic and hygienic habits, is hereby confirmed, and 
he gradually becomes resigned to a life of chronic ailment. 

The honest and capable physician is compelled to contend 
with ignorant and superficially educated men and women who are 
searching for palliatives and not for permanent cures, which re¬ 
quire perseverance and self-control. “Every disease,” said Dr. 
E. H. Dewey, of fasting fame, “is an inherited possibility, which 
every violation of the laws of life tends to develop. It is never 
simply an attack on a well person, but rather a summing up of the 
more or less life-long violation of health laws.” 

The majority of people have yet to learn that lasting health 
can only come through a true understanding of the normal func¬ 
tions of the body, and an application of simple and rational meth¬ 
ods for maintaining them in a healthy condition. Because a few 
who have inherited a large amount of vitality are able with appar¬ 
ent impunity to defy the laws of nature for some time, many are 
disposed to sneer at rational methods of living. As a rule, how¬ 
ever, disease claims them as her own when they have attained 
middle age, when man’s powers should be at the height of efficiency. 

Vivisection is one of the fallacies of medical science, developed 
through its endeavor to look for new methods of curing disease 
by serum therapy. The newly discovered remedies are urged as 
reasons for cruel experiments on animals. Even though, for the 
sake of argument, it were admitted that germs cause disease, it 
is a fact that no animal has ever suffered from precisely the same 
disease as a human being. Human diseases cannot be inoculated 
into them. As a rule only the concomitants of blood poisoning 
are produced. For this reason medical science itself will never be 
able to form any definite conclusions concerning the reliability 
of the results of vivisection. In fact, many far seeing physicians 
whose minds have not been biased by bacteriological fallacies, have 
never looked to vivisection as a necessary adjunct to the cure of 
disease. 

Dr. Walter R. Hadwen, one of England’s leading physicians, 


456 RATIONAL DIET 

in a public lecture given at Los Angeles, California, June 16, 1921, 
remarked: 

“In my own country during the fifteen years after antitoxin 
was introduced, the death rate from diphtheria rose 25 per cent 
above the death rate fifteen years before, and bacteriologists can 
only attempt to show a reduction in fatality by a scandalous 
system of statistical jugglery, whereby large numbers of com¬ 
mon sore throats are thrown into the count and called diphtheria 
on the basis of the fallacious germ theory of disease. Diphtheria 
serum has killed without a doubt thousands of children directly, 
though it has never had the slightest effect in preventing or curing 
diphtheria itself, and I challenge anybody to prove that it has 
ever saved one single life. It is based on superstition; it is built 
upon unscientific theories; it is manufactured at the expense and 
torture of animal life, and is the greatest disgrace of the medical 
profession that the world has witnessed in the course of the cen¬ 
turies. ’* 

It is really surprising to hear physicians who should know 
better say that the use of living animals for experiments is nec¬ 
essary for the conquest of some diseases, and for the intelligent 
treatment of others. John D. Rockefeller, whose little grandson 
died as a result of cerebro spinal meningitis, was so moved with a 
desire to promote experimentation along these lines that he found¬ 
ed the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in which vivi¬ 
section is a prominent feature. With the proper knowledge, he 
could have devoted his millions to far better advantage by giving 
the people some really fundamental knowledge about the cause 
and cure of disease. 

Dr. S. Flexner, the leading spirit of the Rockefeller Institute, 
in telling about his discovery of serum for the alleged cure of 
meningitis, said some fifteen years ago: 

“Once we have tried our remedies with satisfactory results 
upon animals, there is very little risk to human beings; and of 
course in treating the latter we shall proceed with the utmost 
caution. 

“Take my own serum for meningitis, for instance, without 
monkeys we never could have discovered that. First, we had to 
prove that the monkey really had meningitis, and then we could 
go ahead with experiments for its cure. We injected the serum 
into its spine, and found it did good—at any rate it did no harm. 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


457 


So we could inject it into the spine of a human being with con¬ 
fidence that we w r ere not doing him any harm.” 

It appears that Dr. Flexner’s statements are very much quali¬ 
fied and that his experiments breathe the spirit of uncertainty. 
To the analytical mind it seems unreasonable to make animals in 
the abnormal state of pain the basis for medical research. In Dr. 
Flexner’s experiments, the symptoms of the disease had been pro¬ 
duced artificially in the monkeys by sub-cutaneous injections, 
while in the human system the disease is caused by faulty nutri¬ 
tion. 

Spinal meningitis will continue its ravages so long as there are 
mothers so misinformed as to make no effort by hygienic living 
to properly nurse their children. Artificial feeding of infants 
is at the root of many children’s diseases and must be regarded 
as one of the stupendous errors of civilization. 

It is deplorable that even those who are at the head of our lead¬ 
ing educational institutions have not acquired a deeper understand¬ 
ing of the cause of disease. Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, President of 
Stanford University, in a recent attack against anti-vivisectionists, 
said: 

‘ ‘ Where do they think medical scientists learned to keep typhus 
and typhoid and tuberculosis out of this country, except through 
experimentation on animals?” 

“We are able to progress only by such experimentation; we 
have gained all our knowledge by means of it. Even in the dark 
ages people learned to give way to medical science; yet those who 
oppose vivisection, done under anaesthetics and humane in every 
way, would take from doctors their only source of certain knowl¬ 
edge.” 

Vivisection is built on a false hypothesis, and nothing worth 
while and of lasting benefit can be achieved by it. Vivisection 
is not merely a question of cruelty to animals, but it involves in¬ 
jury to human beings as well. There is no doubt that serums and 
vaccines, administered as a result of animal experimentations, 
have done a great deal of harm, even caused many premature 
deaths as a result of blood poisoning. Man is so selfish that he 
permits thousands of animals to be needlessly tortured, if he is 
told that he may thereby prolong his own life a short time. 

If medical colleges and universities would devote more time 
to a study of the chemistry of food and nutrition, especially to the 


458 


RATIONAL DIET 


organic salts in their relation to health and disease, and less time 
to bacteriology and animal torture they would find a tangible basis 
upon which to proceed intelligently in the treatment of disease, 
and thereby perform a real service to mankind. 

Contrast the allegations of Dr. Wilbur with the following state¬ 
ments of Sir Charles Bell, a very eminent Scotch surgeon, taken 
from his book “The Nervous System of the Human Body”: 

“Experiments on animals have never been the means of dis¬ 
covery, and a survey of what has been attempted of late years in 
physiology will prove that the opening of living animals has done 
more to perpetrate error than to confirm the just views taken 
from the study of anatomy and natural motions. 

“In a foreign review of my former papers the results of my 
investigations have been considered as a further proof in favor of 
vivisection. They are, on the contrary, deductions from anatomy, 
and I have had recourse to experiments, not to form my own 
opinions, but to impress them upon others. It must be my apology 
that my utmost efforts of persuasion were lost while I urged my 
statements on the ground of anatomy alone.” 

Here we have conclusive proof that Sir Charles Bell’s famous 
discovery of the double action of the spinal nerves was a scientific 
deduction from anatomical investigation and had nothing what¬ 
ever to do with experiments on animals. 

Many medical men, indeed, have confessed that vivisection, 
far from benefiting science, is both detrimental and misleading. 
To illustrate, during ten years, Dr. Schiff, a noted surgeon, vivi¬ 
sected 14,000 dogs. It is estimated that he vivisected during the 
same period 70,000 animals of various kinds; and for some time 
' he had been regularly torturing ten dogs each week. To prove 
one hypothesis, over 9,000 dogs were vivisected, and the result was 
then in doubt. 

Serum therapy which has been mentioned as being responsible 
for the torture of thousands of animals, is now a subject of con¬ 
troversy even among members of the medical profession. 

Dr. Tilden in “Philosophy of Health” quotes from an allo¬ 
pathic physician who is frank and intelligent enough to admit the 
failure of serum therapy: 

‘ ‘ ‘ The treatment of diseases, or their prevention, by antitoxins, 
serums, and vaccines is still very largely in the experimental 
stage, with grave doubts as to the value of the vast majority. Un¬ 
fortunately much of our literature on these subjects, including 
statistics, is furnished by the manufacturers who are interested, 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


459 


above all things, in the financial aspects of their production. One of 
the most prominent general practitioners in Ohio called my atten¬ 
tion some months ago to the fact that even diphtheria antitoxin 
acquired its reputation when the doses used were so small as would 
now be regarded as entirely inadequate, and those doses given at 
a stage of the disease in which their administration is now looked 
upon as practically useless. 

“ { A number of years ago there was a grave epidemic of diph¬ 
theria in Philadelphia. The epidemic was proving disastrously 
fatal when a firm of manufacturing pharmacists appeared and, 
with the claim that the antitoxin had not been properly adminis¬ 
tered, proposed to the officials that they would take charge of the 
situation, would furnish antitoxin free of expense, and would su¬ 
pervise its administration, provided merely that they should be 
permitted to use the statistics which they would thus obtain. Their 
proposition was promptly accepted; the antitoxin was used with 
a free hand; but the statistics were never published! I refer to 
this merely as an illustration of the purely commercial attitude of 
the manufacturing firms. Statistics can be of no possible value 
when unfavorable ones are suppressed and only the favorable ones 
published. It is an old legal aphorism, Falsus in uno y falsus in 
omnibus —false in one thing, false in all—and that maxim should 
be rigidly applied to all such reports, statistical and otherwise. 

“ ‘ The treatment of pneumonia may be looked upon, as sug¬ 
gested by Osier, as a sort of test of the serum type of therapy. It 
is a disease that is always with us, has a frightful mortality, and 
its lesson is always a lesson of humility. It is doubtful if the 
death-rate today is any less than it was a thousand years ago. We 
had hoped much from the “typing 7 ’ of this disease which at¬ 
tracted so much attention a few years ago; but my medical 
friends assure me that the resulting treatment has been a distinct 
disappointment, if not a complete failure. As Osier suggests, we 
must accept the truth, however unpleasant, and, with this death- 
rate before us, not be deceived with vain fancies. 7 77 

Serum therapy ignores the ever-active vital force in all ani¬ 
mated beings. No physician could ever explain the assumed 
remedial action of antitoxin by the laws of physiological chemistry 
and biology. The fewer fatalities since the introduction of anti¬ 
toxin are explained by the fact that eighty-five per cent recover 
despite the serum treatment. Before the days of antitoxin the 
great mortality in diphtheria cases was largely confined to the 
regular school. Homeopaths, eclectics and the drugless healers 
were more successful, as any physician would be who does not inter¬ 
fere with nature’s eliminative processes. 

There has been a general lowering of the severity of the type 


460 


RATIONAL DIET 


of diphtheria and a decided fall in the death rate during the last 
thirty years, but this cannot by any means be attributed to the 
introduction of antitoxin. Antitoxin simply did less injury than 
former drastic treatment with poisonous drugs Yet despite this 
malpractice, twenty-five per cent of the afflicted children survived, 
while following antitoxin treatment eighty to ninety per cent lived 
through the disease. Antitoxin really killed fewer than the old 
time treatment and the difference in the mortality seemed miracu¬ 
lous to the profession, so much so, indeed, that they felt them¬ 
selves entitled to enforce their doctrines of serum therapy by law. 

Very likely those practicing the old treatment were satisfied that 
by hard work and skill they had saved twenty-five per cent. The 
thought never entered into their mind that the treatment itself had 
been fatal to from sixty to sixty-five per cent of the total number 
who died. Antitoxin being less destructive in its effects gave a 
chance to vis medicatrix naturae (nature’s healing power) to 
assert itself. 

It is against all the laws of logic to assume that a dead or 
inert substance taken from a diseased animal should in some 
mysterious way impart vital force to a feverish body. Antitoxins 
and serums always gravely impair the vitality of the system, which 
has to eliminate these virulent poisons. 

A rational system of healing must be constructed upon the 
eternal foundations of truth, and upon the firm belief in nature’s 
restorative power. Only such forces should be employed as really 
replenish the waning vitality of the body: sunlight, air, water, 
mechanical treatment, exercise, rest, a hopeful attitude of mind 
and, last but not least, a carefully selected diet. 

Rational diet is one of the greatest factors in Nature Cure, as 
it tends to establish self-control and confidence in the healing power 
of nature. All the branches of Nature Cure, hydrotherapy, physi¬ 
cal culture, osteopathy, chiropractic and suggestion are important, 
but in order to be of lasting value they must be combined with the 
proper feeding of the patient. 

Unfortunately, there is hardly a subject of which the average 
physician knows less than that of rational nutrition, because the 
medical colleges do not devote sufficient time to the study of this 
most important factor in the successful treatment of disease. The 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 461 

average physician is still blinded by his belief in drug and serum 
treatment. 

While food is a great factor in the restoration of health, 
it can be of value only in so far as it is properly digested and 
assimilated. In other words, in prescribing a diet it is necessary to 
consider the condition and vitality of the patient. Even the best 
food cannot make a dead man live, inasmuch as only the living 
body can act upon food elements and change them into blood, on 
which life depends. Foods must become an intrinsic part of the 
body before they can be acted upon by its inherent vital force, 
and utilized in the production of heat and energy or tissue build¬ 
ing. Therefore, since serums and vaccines can never become an 
integral part of the blood, their uselessness becomes evident. They 
are acted upon by the vital force and thrown out of the system 
as quickly as possible. The body’s reaction is often mistaken for 
an improvement, and increased doses are prescribed until vitality 
is exhausted and the patient dies. 

The human body has been likened to a steam engine in which 
the foods are burned up like so much coal or oil, giving out a 
certain amount of calories or heat units. This is a mistaken idea; 
food is not directly used as is the fuel of an engine, but it must be 
digested and assimilated before it can be oxidized in the body and 
transformed into muscular and mental energy. If the general 
health is impaired, the power of the digestive organs is proportion¬ 
ately lowered, and a temporary rest is needed. This can be best 
accomplished by a short fast. It is the height of folly to feed a 
patient during a case of fever, as the food will be actually turned 
into poison. To give a sick person plenty of so-called “good, nour¬ 
ishing food” is to overtax his weakened digestive organs and still 
further lower his vitality, often with fatal results. 

We must learn to judge the medicinal or remedial value of 
foods chiefly by their contents of alkaline organic salts, which are 
nature’s true antitoxins, when they have become a part of our body. 
Fresh fruit juices sipped slowly and in moderate quantities should 
be the only foods permissible in acute diseases. 

Lasting health and the preservation of vital force can be 
achieved only by self control and rational living. In eradicating 
disease it is not necessary to fight germs or microbes, but rather 
man’s ignorance, his violation of natural laws, lack of self eon 


462 


RATIONAL DIET 


trol and his overindulgence—in short, his ingrained thoughts and 
habits. 

It is not within the scope of this book to enter into lengthy de¬ 
tails concerning the cause and cure of all acute and chronic dis¬ 
eases. Only a general outline can be given. Much has to be 
left to the skilled and experienced nature cure physician, who, for¬ 
tunately, is now becoming more and more conspicuous in this 
country, notwithstanding the untiring efforts of representatives 
of the old schools of medicine to impede his progress and narrow 
his field of activity. 

Enlarged Tonsils and Adenoids are among the most frequently 
occurring diseases of childhood, and medical science still relies 
upon the knife of the surgeon as the only cure. The functions of 
the adenoids and of the tonsils are closely related to each other, 
as they neutralize poisons that are generated in the mouth and 
upper respiratory tract, and assist in the functioning of the other 
lymphatic glands. The diseased condition of the glands is a 
result of an undue accumulation of waste poison in the system, due 
to faulty diet. If we consider the fact that the majority of chil¬ 
dren indulge in an excess of artificial sweets and starchy foods, de¬ 
prived of the important organic salts and vitamins, we shall find 
a rational explanation for these deplorable conditions. The de¬ 
ficiency of iron, sodium and calcium in the blood leads to an ac¬ 
cumulation of carbonic acid and other waste poisons, overtaxing 
all the lymphatic glands. Removal of the glands, while lending at 
best only temporary relief, does not strike at the root of the evil 
which is irrational living. There is positively no need for such 
operations, since natural foods, sleeping near open windows, and 
the taking of sun baths, whenever convenient, will readily alleviate 
all functional disorders, provided the vitality of the patient is 
still strong enough to react properly. 

Comparatively few parents understand how to feed and clothe 
their children, and depend too much upon the advice of orthodox 
physicians or surgeons. However, almost any apparently healthy 
child, surrounded by artificial conditions of city life, is apt to 
develop occasional disorders during the first ten years of its life, but 
these reactions are due, as a rule, to nature’s efforts to eliminate 
surplus waste matter, and are beneficial and necessary. Intelligent 
physicians never attempt to suppress these symptoms by medicines 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


463 


and operations, since such methods lower the vitality of the child 
and lay the foundation for chronic diseases in after years. A diet 
consisting exclusively of fruits or fresh fruit juices for a few 
days, or longer, will alleviate the diseased condition and gradually 
restore the normal functions of the body. In fact, fresh fruit 
should always constitute a substantial part of the growing child’s 
dietary, as in this way it will be protected against acquiring the 
craving for artificial sweets. 

Constipation , for the relief of which humanity is swamped with 
remedies, would appear to be an almost universal ailment, and is 
largely the result of the increasing consumption of devitalized and 
demineralized foods. Shrewd advertising has made some of these 
products almost household words, and the public has acquired 
faith in their value. 

There is nothing more conducive to constipation than the con¬ 
tinuous use of white flour products, concentrated sweets, meat, 
spices and condiments, since they increase the acidity of the blood 
and weaken the chemical action of the mucous membranes of the 
intestinal canal. Any drastic remedy will only serve to enervate 
and leave the digestive organs in a still more weakened condition 
than before. The gradual adoption of a diet consisting largely of 
natural, uncooked foods, thoroughly masticated, combined with 
plenty of outdoor exercise will bring permanent relief. We should 
remember that constipation is an indication of a general lowered 
vitality of the body and that we must bring all the natural reme¬ 
dial factors into play in order to insure normal and healthy action 
of the bowels, without having to take recourse to artificial means. 

Cancer is a disease that is on the increase in all civilized coun¬ 
tries, baffling the skill of the medical profession, though we should 
bear in mind that the various forms of malignant growths are as 
a rule included under the general name of cancer. Naturally, it is 
assumed by the medical profession that a specific germ is responsi¬ 
ble for this malady, and hundreds of medicines, in addition to 
repeated surgical operations, have been offered as cures. 

The proportion of cancer cases in a community appears to be in 
direct ratio to its consumption of meat, alcohol, tobacco, spices and 
condiments in general. There is no doubt that the cause of all 


464 


RATIONAL DIET 


malignant growths of the body is the highly toxic condition of 
the blood induced by years of irrational living. Not all abnormal 
enlargements of the tissues are of a cancerous character, and in the 
majority of cases a strictly regulated simple diet will prevent 
serious consequences. But again, people as a rule are so frightened 
by the appearance of even a slight protuberance on the body that 
they aggravate the condition, and are easily influenced to submit to 
an operation. 

Besides the germ fallacy, many other theories have been ad¬ 
vanced as the cause of this disease. Even tomatoes and potatoes 
have been made responsible for it. The only rational explanation is 
to be found in a highly acid-forming diet, which, during the course 
of years, leads to degeneration of blood and tissues. Poods espe¬ 
cially rich in nitrogen and phosphoric acid will always promote ab¬ 
normal growths in parts of the body that are subject to frequent 
exterior stimulation, since the lack of alkaline elements in the blood 
prevents the removal of waste matter through the excretory organs. 
Common sense should tell us that surgical operations for cancer, or 
any other disease, can never remove the cause since the blood 
will remain in the same depleted condition. On the other hand, 
relief, if not cure, can be effected in most cases without an opera¬ 
tion, through a radical change in diet. 

These facts are beginning to be recognized even by those physi¬ 
cians who have become world-famous for their skill in performing 
surgical operations. Speaking before the Rhode Island Medical So¬ 
ciety, Dr. William J. Mayo said: 

“ Cancer of the stomach forms nearly a third of all cancers of 
the human body. So far as I know this is not true of the lower 
animals, nor uncivilized man. Is it not possible, therefore, that 
there is something in the habits of civilized man, in the cooking or 
other preparation of his food, which acts to produce the pre-cancer- 
ous condition ? Within the last hundred years, four times as much 
meat has been taken as before that time. If flesh foods are not 
broken up, decomposition results and active poisons are thrown into 
an organ not intended for their reception, which has not had time 
to adapt itself to the new function. When cancer in the human 
race is frequent, a close study of the habits of civilized man, as con¬ 
trasted with primitive races and lower animals, where similar le¬ 
sions are conspicuously rare, may be of value; and finally, the 
prophylaxis (prevention) of cancer depends first on a change in 
those cancer producing habits, and second, on early removal of all 
precarious lesions and sources of chronic irritation.’’ 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


465 


We must, however, take exception to the second suggestion re¬ 
lating to surgical operations. A diet that supplies sufficient alka¬ 
line elements, and at the same time diminishes the amount of 
protein, will gradually reduce the acidity of the blood so that it 
can assist in removing lesions by re-absorption, thereby obviating 
the necessity for operations. 

This view is confirmed by the late Dr. Willard Parker, a well 
known New York surgeon, who said: 

‘‘Cancer is, to a great extent, one of the final results of a long 
continued course of error in diet; and a strict dietetic regimen is 
therefore the chief factor in the treatment, prevention and cure. . 
.... In regard to the effect of abstemiousness in cancer, I speak 
with great positiveness that vegetables, or at least a very bland 
diet, does check the progress of the disease, and in some cases now 
under treatment has been attended by an alleviation of symptoms, 
and in a few instances by a recession of growth . 11 

The races that consume the smallest amount of meat, or are 
practically vegetarians, are remarkably free from cancer. Dr. 
Madden, of Cairo, says that cancer is never found among the black 
races of Egypt who are Mohammedans and vegetarians. In Lagos, 
during fourteen years, Dr. Johnson saw only five cases of cancer 
among the natives, and in all of these five cases the afflicted were 
meat-eaters. Brazil, with its abundance of fruits, has the lowest 
death rate of any part of the western world, while in the Argentine 
Republic, where the consumption of meat is the highest of all 
countries, cancer is a very common disease. 

In England where cancer is alarmingly on the increase, the 
people consume over 130 pounds of meat to each person every year, 
which is more than double what it was fifty years ago. At the same 
time the cancer mortality has increased more than four times, 
surpassing in this respect all other diseases. In other countries 
the same thing has occurred, but wherever the consumption of toxic 
drinks and of meat and tobacco has been small, the cancer rate has 
kept comparatively low. 

Alcoholic beverages also seem to bear a causal relation to cancer. 
The beer and wine drinking countries, like France, Australia and 
Germany, have a higher cancer mortality than most Oriental 
countries; Munich, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, and Salzburg having 
about the highest rate in the world. Beer is well known to produce 
gouty and rheumatic poisons in the system. 


466 


RATIONAL DIET 


The exemption of tribes of negroes and of other natives has 
been described by medical observers. In the most recent report of 
the Cancer Research Fund the general absence of cancer among 
Papuan, Malaysian and Australian natives is confirmed. But .they 
do become afflicted when living like Europeans and adopting a 
stimulating diet of highly seasoned dishes in place of their simple 
and natural foods. 

The common occurrence of cancer among the backwoodsmen of 
North America and Norway is surprising considering their stren¬ 
uous outdoor life. But it seems that their fare in North America 
consists of very large quantities of pork, bacon, molasses, etc., and 
of strong tea; while the Norwegians consume large amounts of 
coffee. Such drinks are destructive to the nervous system and the 
foods are highly acid-forming. 

Cancer of the stomach and liver is common among both men and 
women, and it is due to local irritation produced by perverted 
dietetic habits. Pepper, mustard, and pickles, when eaten freely, 
act as local irritants. The free use of sugar, jellies, fried foods, 
pastry and confectionery favors fermentation and the formation of 
acids which also irritate the mucous membrane. 

In the study of the etiology of cancer we must never lose sight 
of the fact that the integrity of each individual cell is dependent 
upon a pure blood supply, which contains the organic salts suitable 
to its physiological necessities. To retain the cellular tissue in a 
healthy and vigorous condition, it is essential that it is provided 
with foods which are rich in the alkaline elements. A diet devoid 
of the vital principles of fruits and vegetables will always favor the 
formation of cancerous growths. It is absurd to attribute the dis¬ 
ease to cancer parasites. 

The inability of the regular medical profession to cope with 
cancer is illustrated by the fact that a few years ago Dr. William 
T. Bull, a noted New York cancer-specialist, died of cancer himself. 
Says the newspaper report: 

“ Cancer was one of the diseases in the treatment of which he 
had been an eminent specialist, and he studied his own symptoms 
and directed what should be done. A surgical operation was per¬ 
formed according to his directions and serums then used. 

“It is a curious coincidence that the disease which he knew the 
best was the one which struck him down. When the dread scourge 
first made its appearance, he was having a bust of himself made 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


467 


and knowing that he was doomed, he continued the sittings as 
often as possible so that the work might be finished before the dis¬ 
ease made it impossible. His death has been daily expected for 
some time and it was only through the use of great will power that 
he lived during the last three months / 9 

Like so many of his colleagues, Dr. Bull had an entirely wrong 
conception of the disease which ended his life. How can a vitiated 
blood stream be improved by surgical operations and serums? A 
complete reform in the dietetic habits of the patient is one of the 
first essentials for the cure of cancer, if it has not already progressed 
too far. 

So alarming has been the increase of cancer cases in the United 
States since 1905, that the government has established a “cancer 
week,” during which efforts will be made “to spread the facts re¬ 
garding cancer, its causes, treatment and prevention.” It is cer¬ 
tain that information based upon a wrong conception of disease 
cannot prove helpful. 

Nature’s universal cancer prevention is to be found in a simple, 
non-stimulating diet, consisting mostly of fresh fruits and green 
leaf vegetables, with a small amount of protein foods, avoiding all 
flesh foods, salt, sugar, condiments, alcoholic beverages and tobacco. 
Frequent sun and air baths are likewise great healing factors in 
the cure of cancer. We cannot, however, expect that a disease which 
is the result of a lifetime of wrong living will disappear in a few 
weeks or months. But by self control, patience and perseverance 
complete recovery will ultimately result, that is, if the vital forces 
have not been vitiated by conventional treatment and the disease 
advanced too far. 

Dr. Frances Carter Wood, Director of the Columbia University 
Institute of Cancer Research, gives the following statistics: 

“Between the ages of 15 and 19 only one person in 250,000 
dies of cancer. Between 20 and 24 only one person in 200,000. 
Between 25 and 34 one man in 10,000 and one woman in 5,000 
dies of cancer. And so the rate rises until between the ages of 
65 and 75, one man in 200 and one woman in 150 dies of cancer.” 

These figures clearly show that the deaths from cancer increase 
with advancing age, as the accumulative effects of faulty nutrition. 

Surgical operations can give at best only temporary relief, while 
they ultimately retard nature’s healing process, and are often 
followed by fatal results. In the treatment of no other disease 


468 


RATIONAL DIET 


does the average physician show less understanding of the laws of 
life and health than in the treatment of cancer. 

Diabetes is a diseased state of the functions of nutrition, charac¬ 
terized by an abnormal urinary excretion of sugar, amounting to 
from one-half ounce to three ounces per day, and in serious cases 
to even more. This condition is the result of a highly increased 
acidity of the blood, which is deficient in iron, sodium, lime, and 
sulphur, the elements necessary for the formation of red blood cor¬ 
puscles. Overeating and the habitual use of alcoholic beverages, 
even in moderate amounts, are the principal causes of this disease. 
Although some of the diabetic patients may look well fed, they are 
anemic and lack endurance. On account of lack of sodium, the 
blood is surcharged with carbonic acid, and at the same time the 
deficiency of iron, lime and sulphur prevents the intake of a suf¬ 
ficient amount of oxygen into the lungs, so that an incomplete com¬ 
bustion of the carbohydrates results. The proscription of sweet 
and starchy foods may reduce the amount of sugar in the urine, 
but will by no means constitute a permanent cure. Only by bring¬ 
ing the blood back to its normal alkalinity will the natural com¬ 
bustion of the carbohydrates be assured. It is not necessary to 
avoid the natural foods that contain starch or sugar as long as a 
sufficient amount of alkaline elements is provided. The so-called 
gluten bread, often recommended to sufferers from diabetes, is worse 
than useless, as gluten flour is deficient in the essential organic 
salts that are washed out in the manufacturing process. Further¬ 
more, a surplus of protein, such as is apt to result from a gluten 
or meat diet is split into carbohydrates and uric acid. Diabetes is 
frequently associated with anemic, scrofulous and gouty conditions, 
which are all due to the same causes, and, therefore, can be pre¬ 
vented only by the adoption of a diet which supplies alkaline ele¬ 
ments necessary for the formation of normal blood. Naturally the 
process of readjustment will be slow, as it often requires several 
months or more of careful dieting to eliminate the poisons which 
have accumulated during years of wrong living, and to restore the 
healthy functioning of the digestive organs. 

The occurrence of diabetes varies greatly with location and race. 
On the island of Malta the diabetes mortality is 37.8 per 100,000, in 
Bordeaux, 25.8; Berlin, 20; Paris, 17.6; in the United States the 
mortality in Worcester is 27.3; Syracuse, 25.7; Boston, 17.9; New 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


469 


York, 17.4. The disease is common in some parts of India, es¬ 
pecially in the large centers of population under European in¬ 
fluence. Few cases of diabetes occur among the poor Chinese, 
though the rich suffer more. That the colored race suffers less 
than the whites is shown by the fact that the mortality among ne¬ 
groes is 8 per 100,000 and among the whites 16.3. 

In western Europe and America the disease is increasing. 
For instance, in England and Wales the mortality in 1886 was 
5.9; in 1907, 19.7. In Paris in 1881 the mortality from diabetes 
was 5.8; in 1890, 13; and in 1905, 17.6. An increasing mortality 
from this disease has also been noted in Copenhagen, Berlin, and 
Australia. In America the mortality has doubled in twelve years. 
Diabetes will continue to increase as long as people persist in 
excessive consumption of meat, white flour products, artificial 
sweets and alcoholic beverages. 

Gout and rheumatism are the result of a continuous over-in¬ 
dulgence in concentrated foods, containing an excess of protein and 
phosphoric acid. The system becomes unable to eliminate the 
urates and phosphates, which settle in the joints in the form of 
small crystals and cause painful inflammations. The regular use 
of alcoholic beverages, coffee and tea are often contributory causes, 
as they interfere with the elimination of waste poisons. When 
larger quantities of these uric acid crystals accumulate, they will 
form little lumps that gradually become hard and appear as gall, 
bladder or kidney stones, causing frequent pains in these organs. 
A diet rich in alkaline elements, especially sodium, will gradually 
dissolve and excrete these poisons. Meat, cheese, legumes, spices 
and condiments should be avoided, while nuts and cereals, except 
whole rice, should be used sparingly. One meal each day should 
consist of a combination salad, another one of fresh fruit. Relief 
will often come slowly and pain will often reappear until all the 
toxins are eliminated. Frequent sun and air baths are also bene¬ 
ficial in improving the action of the skin. In the treatment of 
chronic rheumatism it must always be remembered that a consider¬ 
able amount of toxins is stored up in the tissues. As soon as the 
eliminative treatment begins, these toxins re-enter into the cir¬ 
culating blood and cause temporary pains: This is the case es¬ 
pecially after a diet of acid and subacid fruits, which are avoided 


470 


RATIONAL DIET 


by many on account of this very eliminative action. The fact 
cannot be too much emphasized that in the restoration of health 
the body must pass through a succession of more or less severe 
healing crises. Those who understand the laws of health will 
therefore not deviate from natural healing methods because of 
occasional pain which, in this instance, is but an indication of the 
body’s gradual return to normal conditions. 

Hardening of the Arteries (arteriosclerosis). “A man is as old 
as his arteries” because the circulation of the blood depends upon 
the arterial tension. The heart alone could not perform the tre¬ 
mendous task of constantly forcing the blood through the arteries 
and capillaries were it not for the arteries, which by means of 
their muscular walls, assist in circulating the blood. If the arterial 
walls gradually become encumbered with phosphates, urates and 
other waste matter and thereby deprive the vessels of their natural 
elasticity, additional work is thrown upon the heart, thus abnor¬ 
mally increasing the blood pressure. The additional heart pulsa¬ 
tions make a very appreciable strain upon the vital forces, often 
causing hemorrhages. 

In hardening of the arteries there is a gradual thickening of the 
arterial wall. • It may become two, three, four or even more times 
thicker than normal. As the arteries become encumbered, they lose 
their power of muscular contraction and extra work is thrown upon 
the heart to force the same amount of blood through the narrow 
openings. The function of the heart becomes more and more en¬ 
feebled, the supply of blood to all the organs of the body is less¬ 
ened and the signs of senility appear. 

The cause of old age is not so much the presence of phosphate 
of lime in the food, but rather the accumulation of waste matter in 
the body. Under the influence of these poisons, nutrition is im¬ 
paired, and the arteries, as well as other tissues, take on degenera¬ 
tive changes resulting in a calcareous condition. 

The constant use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, spices and 
condiments, coffee, tea, meat and even a too frequent consumption of 
cereals and legumes are the principal causes of arteriosclerosis, 
which can in its early stages be relieved by the adoption of a 
non-stimulating diet, including the daily use of fresh fruits and 
vegetable salads, with a small amount of protein food. Lack of 


NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


471 


rresh air and exercise, in fact everything which retards and prevents 
the elimination of waste matter, will favor the hardening of the 
arterial vessels, often before middle age is reached. 

The use of such drugs as strychnine, digitalis, etc., to stimulate 
the action of the heart, may bring temporary relief, but at a fearful 
cost to the vitality of the patient, who will require constantly in¬ 
creasing doses as this artificial stimulation is continued. 

Diseases of the Liver. The function of the liver, which is the 
largest organ of the body, is to purify the blood by separating from 
it the waste products, such as uric acid, ammonia, taurin, etc., and 
to neutralize them so that they can be excreted through the kidneys. 
The liver promotes the pancreatic digestion and the absorption of 
fats by the bile which it pours into the intestines. 

The liver is the chemical laboratory of the body whose perfect 
working order depends on the sufficient supply of organic salts, 
especially potassium, sodium, calcium, manganese, iron and chlorine. 
The liver in its normal state is a masterpiece of nature’s economy. 
It filters the waste poisons from the blood and transforms them into 
bile, which is important for the proper digestion and assimila¬ 
tion of fats and the regular movement of the bowels. It is a 
storehouse for sugar and iron. The sugar is stored up in the liver 
cells in the form of glycogen (liver-sugar), and is given to the 
various tissues when they require their daily rations. When the 
blood-making glands need more iron for replacing worn out blood 
corpuscles, they have to make a requisition on the liver. And there 
are still several other tasks that this busy organ has to perform. 
We should not, therefore, be surprised if the liver goes on strike, 
or even occasionally indulges in sympathetic strikes when other di¬ 
gestive organs are seriously ailing through our dietetic mistakes. 

As a sluggish and congested liver is caused by highly seasoned 
meats, especially pork, also pastry, artificial sweets, spices, condi¬ 
ments, alcoholic beverages, etc., these articles should be discarded 
from the dietary if relief is desired. Eggs and nuts may be used 
sparingly, and always in connection with green leaf vegetables. 
Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and tomatoes are especially recom¬ 
mended. A so-called “fruit fast” for a week will bring great relief. 

Tuberculosis, commonly understood as a chronic disease of the 
lungs, is usually the outcome of other diseases, such as anemia, 


472 


RATIONAL DIET 


chlorosis, diabetes and scrofulosis, since all have the same origin— 
impoverished blood. In many cases there may be predisposing 
causes, such as inherited low vitality. Furthermore, as children 
live under the same environment and partake of the same food as 
their parents, they are apt to develop the disease sooner or later. 

The increasing consumption of devitalized food, alcohol, and tobac¬ 
co, sexual excesses, overwork, and worry, are the principal factors 
in swelling the number of tubercular patients. There are in the 
United States 160,000 deaths annually from tuberculosis. Nine per 
cent of all deaths, and every third death that occurs between the 
ages of sixteen and sixty are attributable to this disease. True to 
their perverted bacteriological doctrines, the medical profession has 
made an invisible germ responsible—the bacillus tuberculosis —dis¬ 
covered by Dr. Koch about forty years ago. This germ has been 
made the scapegoat for the dietetic omissions and commissions of 
man, and since its discovery, relentless war has been waged upon it. 
However, the attempts of orthodox medicine to stamp out the germ 
and its disease have proved futile. The practice often resorted to 
of stuffing the patient with “plenty of nourishing food” has killed 
more patients than the disease itself. One of the weakest organs in 
all sufferers from tuberculosis is the stomach, and to force into it 
large quantities of meat, eggs and milk, only serves to increase the 
acidity of the blood and fill the system with additional waste matter. 
The common practice of sending patients to warmer climates only 
serves to prolong the suffering, unless a radical change in the diet 
is made. Naturally, fresh air and sunshine are important factors 
in ultimate recovery, but too much stress cannot be laid on the 
adoption of a simple, natural, non-stimulating diet. The best 
localities for consumptive patients are places from 2,000 to 3,000 
feet above sea level where the air is cool and free from' dust. Drugs 
and serums must be strictly avoided, and the diet adapted to the 
vitality of the patient. Fresh fruit and fruit juices, and well pre¬ 
pared vegetable salads should make up the principal portion of the 
dietary, in order to increase the red corpuscles of the blood. 

Pulmonary tuberculosis remains from economic point of view, 
one of the most costly diseases. Carefully prepared data show that 
the average cost of the 160,000 persons who die from this disease 
each year in the United States, including the loss of time and ex¬ 
pense incurred during three years of sickness, is not less than 



NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE 


473 


$8,000 each, making a total of $1,280,000,000, or more than a billion 
a year. Only a rational system of education, teaching the true con¬ 
servation of vital forces can prevent this tremendous waste of life 
and wealth. 

Climatic Fevers (malaria, yellow fever, dysentery, etc.) are all 
afflictions due to hot, moist air, poor in oxygen, and to dietetic 
mistakes. Our dependence upon atmospheric conditions appears 
under most varied conditions. For instance, malaria and yellow 
fever seldom occur 3,000 feet above sea level, since the peculiar 
electricity of air in motion is communicated to our bodies. We 
are all healthier in a dry atmosphere on a sandy soil, which holds 
the electricity, than we are in moist regions which carry off elec¬ 
tricity from our bodies. It is a well known fact that moist air 
absorbs much more heat than dry air, while the proportion of 
oxygen in the former is considerably decreased. 

The northerner who goes to the tropics, seldom makes a change 
in his diet. He takes his canned meats and alcoholic beverages 
along, which deprive the body of oxygen, removing at the same 
time, by the increased secretion of urine, the important minerals 
from the blood. Our immunity from the effects of unfavorable at¬ 
mospheric conditions depends upon a sufficiency of red blood cor¬ 
puscles, which absorb oxygen, and this necessitates the taking of 
foods rich in calcium, iron, sodium and magnesium. Not enough 
can be said against the use of quinine and other antipyretics, which 
may suppress the feverish symptoms for the time being, but only at 
the expense of future suffering. Even men of robust constitution 
will become nervous wrecks through the constant use of these 
poisonous alkaloids, which seriously interfere with the action of the 
spleen and liver upon wdiich the purification of the blood and the 
invigorating of the nervous system depend. There is an idea extant 
that the eating of certain fruits in tropical climates induces fever, 
but in every instance the disease can be traced to other causes than 
the partaking of wholesome and natural food. 

It is not surprising that Europeans and Americans steadily suc¬ 
cumb to tropical diseases, when they persist in the irrational diet 
which outrages their organs of digestion and elimination, especially 
in the hot, moist air of the tropical lowlands. 

Most of the Europeans and Americans living in the tropics look 
askance at fruit, because they do not understand its nutritive and 



474 


RATIONAL DIET 


hj^gienic value. In a system which is overloaded with waste 
poison, an exclusive fruit diet would naturally bring about an im¬ 
mediate reaction, by increasing the activity of the eliminating or¬ 
gans. But this cleansing effect of the fruit in bringing on a healing 
crisis is looked upon as something to be carefully avoided, with 
the result that the functions of liver, kidneys and lungs finally break 
down altogether. 

Those who desire to go to the tropics, should purify their blood 
by a diet rich in alkaline salts, exercise in the open air and breathe 
deeply, thus building up a large reserve of vital force to draw upon 
in an emergency. The accumulation of waste matter in the system 
breaks down our vital resistance which can never be fortified by 
poisonous drugs but only by systemic cleansing. 

The tropics produce an abundance of the most delicious fruits 
and nuts, which should form the larger part of the daily diet, as 
they supply all the elements of nutrition without overtaxing the 
organs of digestion and elimination. There is no reason why a man 
living hygienically should not keep well even in the tropical low¬ 
lands, although he may not feel quite as energetic as in the tem¬ 
perate zone. 

Modern medical science is still engrossed in its mediaeval errors 
and while many physicians have abandoned the old materia medica, 
they still seem to lack a deeper understanding of the laws of life and 
health, because our medical colleges and universities are ruled by 
the spirit of conservatism. The teachings of the great pioneers of 
Nature Cure who have lived during the nineteenth century are not 
yet fully appreciated by the majority of people, but every year 
thousands are losing faith in drug and serum methods of treating 
disease and are looking for sane and natural methods of healing. 

We cannot close this chapter more appropriately than by quoting 
the words of the late Sir William Osier, considered one of the 
greatest medical authorities both in America and Europe: 

“Some physicians still cannot unlearn their old training. The 
modern treatment of disease relies very greatly on the old so-called 
natural methods, diet and exercise, bathing and massage—in other 
words, giving the natural forces the fullest scope by easy and 
rational nutrition, increased flow of blood, and the removal of ob¬ 
structions to the excretory systems or the circulation in the tissues. 
Experiences have shown us that most drugs had no effect whatever 
on the diseases for which they were administered. ,, 


CHAPTER XIV 


Regeneration Through Diet 

The reader who has given preceding chapters careful consid¬ 
eration must come to the conclusion that in no other branch of 
human activity is there such tremendous and unnecessary waste 
as in the usual preparation of our daily food. If it were possible 
to gather careful statistics in this respect, the figures would be 
appalling. Despite the wonderful progress of science during 
the last century, the majority of people still seem to be lament¬ 
ably ignorant of the most important factors on which health and 
happiness depend. 

Most foods, even before they reach the consumer, have been 
deprived of essential mineral elements, generally in order to im¬ 
prove their outward appearance at the cost of their nutritive and 
hygienic value. The constantly increasing consumption of white 
flour, refined sugar, candy, confectionery, hydrogenated oils, the 
use of canned goods, artificially colored and sweetened drinks, is 
supplemented by the irrational preparation of vegetables, which de¬ 
stroys much of the potentiality of the alkaline organic salts. We 
cannot improve on nature, and all foods which we enjoy in their 
natural state are best adapted for our nutrition and welfare. De¬ 
vitalized and demineralized foods naturally lead to overeating, as 
a large quantity must be consumed to satisfy the body. There are 
many who eat three or four times more than would be necessary 
if natural foods were consumed. Furthermore, a too great variety 
of foods is eaten at the same meal, when two or three well selected 
articles would be perfectly sufficient. As a result, man’s vitality 
begins to decline at forty, when his real usefulness should last 
for at least another forty years. 

Simplicity in living must be the keynote in the attainment of 
lasting mental and physical health; it is the greatest factor in the 
conservation of vital force and in the prolongation of life. 

In the undomesticated animal world, we find that all species 
confine themselves to certain varieties of food, taken in their 
natural state, and thereby enjoy health, strength and agility 


476 


476 


RATIONAL DIET 


throughout their allotted span of life. Man who takes his food from 
every conceivable source and mostly artificially prepared, is sub¬ 
ject to diseases and premature death. 

We will now briefly consider the most prevalent dietetic systems. 

The more or less exclusive meat diet is found among the inhab¬ 
itants of the arctic zones, supplemented by reindeer milk and such 
fresh vegetables and berries as are available during the short sum¬ 
mer season. As already mentioned, the Eskimos use almost every 
part of the animal, including the blood, thus insuring a supply of 
alkaline salts, which are lacking in the muscular tissues. Further¬ 
more, these people take their animal foods without cooking or arti¬ 
ficial preparation; they do not use table salt, spices and condiments, 
alcoholic beverages and other articles which make up the diet of 
modern civilized man. Nevertheless, the Eskimos, although com¬ 
paratively free from diseases, are short-lived. The digestion and 
assimilation of meat requires a large expenditure of vital force, as 
all the surplus of protein has to be converted into carbohydrates 
before it can be utilized in the production of heat and energy. 

The experiments of Dr. Max Rubner prove that the amount 
of protein needed daily is very small and that in the utilization of 
the surplus of the ingested protein about fifty per cent is lost, while 
carbohydrates, especially in the form of fruit sugar, are almost 
completely utilized. The waste resulting from the extensive use 
of flesh foods by civilized man not only includes the losses inci¬ 
dental to digestion and assimilation, but also the increased ex¬ 
penditure of vital force in the elimination of the poisonous waste 
products. 

The greatest waste, however, arises from diseases which entail 
loss of time and efficiency. Those who think they cannot dispense 
with flesh foods altogether, or who are obliged by circumstances 
to eat meat, should not take it oftener than three times a week, or 
in daily amounts exceeding 4 or 5 ounces, combined with a liberal 
supply of vegetable salads, and should exclude starch foods at 
the same meal. This combination will, to a large extent, neutralize 
the detrimental effects of meat, which frequently comes from 
diseased animals. 

It is not to be expected that meat eating will be entirely dis¬ 
carded by civilized man for several hundred years, although its 
use is slowly diminishing. There are three factors working con- 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


477 


stantly in this direction: (1) the increasing population of the 
earth and the concomitant increase of land values which will force 
man to an extensive culture of the soil, precluding cattle raising on 
a large scale; (2) the increasing knowledge of man’s actual posi¬ 
tion in nature, a better understanding of the laws of life and 
health, which will create a larger demand for natural foods, fruits, 
nuts and vegetables; (3) the ethical aspect of the question, which 
has been emphasized throughout the ages by the great thinkers 
and philosophers. The slaughter house, despite all sanitary mea¬ 
sures, cannot be reconciled with a higher civilization. 

The most popular diet is the mixed diet, generally consisting 
of a great variety of foods at the same meal, such as soup, meat, 
potatoes, pie, coffee, etc. It is the most irrational of all diets. It 
seems that most people classify themselves as omnivera, believing 
that they should take food from every conceivable source and pre¬ 
pared in every possible way. In countries where food is plentiful, 
the inhabitants put on their tables at each meal enough variety for 
several days, and it is customary, especially if people live on the 
“American Plan,” to eat three “square” meals every day. Some 
persons eat enough at the breakfast table to last them all day; 
nevertheless they appear to have appetite enough for lunch and 
dinner. Those who have inherited a strong digestion and a large 
amount of vitality may be in apparently good physical condition 
most of the time, but they are never one hundred per cent efficient. 
Before they reach middle age they are afflicted with diseases of the 
digestive organs, chronic catarrh, rheumatism, high blood pressure, 
etc. 

People who have been living on such a mixed diet and who dis¬ 
card meat without improving the balance of their food supply will 
receive no benefit at all from the change. With some vegetarians 
the meal generally consists of more or less devitalized foods, such 
as white flour products, badly prepared vegetables, jams, jellies, 
with the liberal use of all kinds of condiments. Before a radical 
change of diet is begun, people should undergo a several days’ 
fast, taking nothing but water and diluted fruit juices and clean 
out their intestinal canal by enemas. They should then confine 
themselves to no more than two or three varieties of foods at the 
same meal. Fruits should be preferably eaten alone, to allow them 
to impart to the body the full effect of their great vibratory forces. 


478 


RATIONAL DIET 


Vegetables in the form of salads, or steamed green leaf vegetables, 
may be combined with baked potatoes, or, in place of the latter, a 
few slices of whole wheat bread. With the addition of an egg, a 
glass of milk, or a dish of cottage cheese, this will make a very 
substantial and well balanced meal. If cereal foods such as whole 
rice make up the larger part of the meal, a few nuts or two ounces 
of nut butter, in the form of nut cream, may be added. A small 
quantity of subacid fruits, such as raisins or dates, and a few let¬ 
tuce leaves may also be included in this meal. A dietetic regimen 
of this kind will facilitate the change from a mixed diet to a more 
rational one. 

Those who discard meat from their diet, generally look for sub¬ 
stitutes of all kinds. To fill this demand, a number of so-called 
meat substitutes have been put on the market. They are generally 
cooked and canned mixtures of peanuts and cereals, flavored with 
aromatic herbs. While such foods may be taken occasionally, they 
should never form a regular part of our diet. We must remember 
that there is not so much necessity for additional protein foods in 
a meatless dietary as for a liberal supply of organic salts. Vege¬ 
tarians should not make the same mistakes of those living largely 
on flesh foods, and take too much protein into their system. In 
addition to fruits and vegetables a day’s ration of protein for the 
adult performing manual work is amply supplied by either one of 
the following items. 

10 ounces of well prepared legumes (about 4 oz. dry weight). 

5 ounces of cottage cheese. 

3 to 4 ounces of unroasted nut butter. 

The latter may be diluted to the consistency of cream. With 
most children, two or three ounces of almond butter are sufficient. 
With a liberal supply of fresh fruits and vegetables there is no 
necessity for the regular use of milk. 

As an intermediate diet between the ordinary mixed and the 
strictly vegetarian or fruitarian regimen, the so-called lacto-vege- 
tarian diet may be recommended, which includes the use of all 
kinds of dairy products, such as milk, butter, cream, the various 
kinds of cheese, and eggs. Millions are invested in the dairy in¬ 
dustry, and while the annual consumption of dairy products only 
amounts in money value to fifty per cent of that spent for meat, 
still the use of milk and eggs eA r entually leads to the slaughter of 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


479 


the producing animals for foods. We should therefore not en¬ 
courage the extensive use of dairy products, and wherever possible 
take our supply of protein and fat from well-masticated nuts or 
wholesome nut butters. Their digestibility, if taken in proper 
proportions and combinations, has been discussed in Chapter III. 
Almonds and many tropical nuts contain very little starch, and 
if brought into a state of emulsion are far more economical sources 
of fat and protein than meat and dairy products. 

Grass fed cows cannot be artificially forced to yield large quan¬ 
tities of milk for commercial purposes, except by the introduction 
of highly concentrated foods, along with their natural food. The 
production of milk may also be increased by the special breeding of 
so-called milch cows. In a natural state the lactiferous glands of 
the cow as well as those of any other mammal are only active till 
teeth of the young have grown sufficiently to enable them to take 
solid food. 

The much advertised milk cure —although it has certain tem¬ 
porary advantages, in so far as it is a mono-diet and taken without 
pasteurizing the milk—will not be of lasting benefit. Six to eight 
quarts of milk per day, as are often given, supply too much protein 
and overwork the liver and kidneys. Milk taken occasionally and 
in small quantities, when there is no other cooked food to be had, 
is certainly better than artificially prepared foods. But, if chil¬ 
dren were given more fresh and dried fruit and green leaf vege¬ 
tables, there would be no necessity for large amounts of milk. 
Milk should be sipped slowly and preferably not mixed with any 
other foods except some dextrinized cereals. Eggs may be used 
with vegetable salads or steamed vegetables but not more than 
two, either raw or soft boiled, should be eaten per day. 

The strictly vegetarian diet, excluding all animal products, will 
only prove satisfactory when it consists largely of uncooked foods 
to insure the full benefit derived from vitamines and organic 
salts. No matter how carefully cooked, there is always a certain 
amount of loss of the nutritive value of foods by heat exceeding 
150° F. Nevertheless, those who have been subsisting mostly on 
cooked foods for years, must make the transition to natural foods 
gradual, until the muscular walls of the alimentary canal and 
the digestive juices have been sufficiently strengthened to extract 
the fullest amount of nourishing ingredients from the uncooked 


480 


RATIONAL DIET 


foods. Another great advantage of natural foods is that they 
require thorough mastication, which is itself a great aid in thorough 
digestion and assimilation. 

Mrs. W. S. Wilke of Los Angeles, California, a close student 
of dietetics, pointedly remarks in an article “Live Foods for Live 
People’’ in the Vitality Magazine: 

“The idea of living exclusively on natural or raw foods does not 
appeal to the average individual, mainly because he has never 
fully sensed their wonderfully invigorating and life giving quality, 
and also because he does not realize what a large variety of natural 
foods there is to select from. 

“I would not advise anyone who has lived entirely on cooked 
foods to begin as I did and try to live exclusively on natural foods. 
If the change is made in too radical a manner, it often leads to 
complete failure. I would recommend to begin with, not more 
than one meal of raw food a day. Before long you will develop a 
desire for natural food, and your very desires will prompt you to 
use it more exclusively. Nor would I recommend that you adhere 
too strictly to the one-meal-a-day plan. If you find that your 
desire for the other food becomes too strong, reduce your program 
to a meal of raw food every other day or, better still, eat a meal 
of cooked food on days when the natural food makes no appeal. 

“It is possible to use the natural foods in combination with 
cooked foods, but this is not particularly advisable for several 
reasons. First, you are inclined to eat too little of the natural 
and too much of the cooked food, and sooner or later revert to 
an exclusively cooked food diet. But if the latter plan is resorted 
to, let me recommend very strongly that you eat the natural food 
first. This will give it an opportunity to digest more readily, for 
it has been proven in the laboratories of our universities that 
most raw foods digest in one-third or one-half the time re¬ 
quired for the same food after cooking. Therefore, if you mix the 
food in a natural state with the same or similar food in a cooked 
state, it will not only produce gas, but the cooked food will retard 
the digestion of natural food. A good plan is to make the first 
half of your evening meal of the natural foods. Begin with green 
vegetables, or a salad, without having preceded it with soup or 
other appetizers or stimulants. 

“It was two weeks after my baby was born when I first began 
living exclusively on natural foods. While I was in the hospital 
the food that was served me was such that I did not feel I could 
eat it, so I gave it up and used milk exclusively. But this was 
not practical, for using only milk made me sick as well as the 
child. I would not advise mothers to live on milk while nursing 
their children, for I do not believe that milk is a good milk-pro- 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


481 


ducer. Certainly it is not a food that produces the best kind of 
milk. 

“During my pregnancy I gave up meat and ate fruit in abun¬ 
dance, but I really did not realize at that time the value of the 
food I was eating. I was guided largely by my own desires in 
choosing food. I also did not follow the fallacy of eating enough 
for two, and from the time the child was two weeks old I lived 
entirely on natural foods, fruits, vegetables and nuts. For break¬ 
fast I usually ate two or three oranges. When melons were in sea¬ 
son I made my breakfast of them. But whatever the fruit, I ate 
only one kind in the morning. For lunch I had fruits and nuts. 
I combined different fruits in a salad and followed it by a nut 
course. My evening meal consisted of a combination salad of 
carrots, turnips, parsnips, or lettuce, spinach, celery, etc. On the 
salad I used a dressing made of lemon juice, honey and olive oil, 
and finished the meal with nuts. During the time that I was 
nursing my baby, I occasionally ate between meals, but always 
fruits. In this way I had plenty of milk at all times. 

“There are five in our family, and all have lived without cooked 
food for the past three years. I have a little boy who has not tasted 
cooked food during this time, and my little girl has never tasted 
it.” 

Cereals, which, next to animal products, are the most widely 
used food products of the world, cannot be very well used in their 
natural or raw state. Very few people have strong enough teeth 
or the time necessary for perfect mastication of cereals in which the 
starch exists in the raw state. Before starch can be utilized by the 
organism, it must change into sugar or maltose. The process of 
converting starch into maltose is a slow one; only a small part of 
the starch is thus converted by the enzymic action of the 
saliva, while most of the starch is made ready for assimilation in 
the small intestine through pancreatic action. Bread still contains 
a good deal of raw starch, especially in the interior of the loaf, 
as the enzymic action is arrested by the heat of the oven. The 
advantage of well-baked, whole wheat bread is that it is more easily 
acted upon by the digestive juices, especially if the flour has been 
ground fine enough. A small amount of yeast is always prefer¬ 
able to baking powder for raising the dough. As the action of the 
yeast is destroyed during the baking process, the loss by alcoholic 
fermentation is very small. A new process of making bread 
directly from the grain by a special machine, has been referred to 
in Chapter V, Part II. A small amount of good, wholesome bread, 


482 


RATIONAL DIET 


or whole wheat crackers, not exceeding 4 to 6 per day, according 
to occupation, will be sufficient for those who feel that they cannot 
abandon entirely the use of cereals. 

The use of cereal foods has become almost universal and it 
would be difficult to discard their use altogether, even in the course 
of time. The teeming millions of eastern Asia, for instance, de¬ 
pend on rice as their staple food, and if properly prepared from 
the whole kernel, it is the least objectionable of the cereals, as it 
is less acid-forming than other grains. 

Starchy roots and tubers, the staple foods in many countries, are 
seldom eaten raw, although it is claimed that the raw potato is 
often used in cases of rheumatism, as its alkaline salts readily 
neutralize urea and uric acid. To make starchy vegetables more 
digestible and palatable they should be baked in the skins, and 
always eaten with a liberal amount of green leaf vegetables, prefer¬ 
ably in the form of salads. There is no doubt that in the course 
of time, as fruit and nut culture receive more attention, the culti¬ 
vation of cereals will decrease and fresh and dried fruits will grad¬ 
ually take their place, and these foods will furnish the body with 
carbohydrates in a soluble form, needing no further preparation. 

The fruitarian diet, by which we understand a diet consisting 
of fruits and nuts, supplemented by such vegetables as can be rel¬ 
ished in their natural state, is the ideal diet of man. In the fruit 
of trees, nature has created one of her greatest masterpieces. When 
eating fruit, we enjoy the full potential energy stored up by sun¬ 
light, air, water, and the elements of the soil. The electric cellular 
vibrations or vital electric forces are most intense in fruits, ripened 
in the golden sunshine, while in flesh foods, they are at their ebb, 
having been consumed and lost in the life processes of the animal. 

There are in fruits many subtle and indefinable qualities that 
are not susceptible to chemical analysis, for they are too volatile 
to survive the laboratory process of condensation and extraction. 
We have a number of food extracts in which those ingredients have 
been condensed, which the chemist, guided by his analysis, believes 
to be essential. It is more than probable that such ingredients are 
not the most valuable, but only the coarser part. For example, 
how can a chemist artificially produce an apple? No amount of 
analysis and subsequent synthesis will enable him to do so, for, 
though he may be able to produce the elements in their correct 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


483 


proportions, and even imitating the more complex compounds, 
still there is a bloom of life about the fruit that would defy his 
efforts. 

Fruits are considered by many people as mere food accessories 
to be passed around the table after a regular meal. In this way 
all their nutritive and medicinal qualities are lost. Fruits should 
be regarded as true foods, able to sustain health and vigor by them¬ 
selves alone. To those who are following the simple life, a meal 
consisting of one or two kinds of fruit is perfectly satisfying. 
During the seasons when fresh, ripe fruits are available, we should 
make full use of our opportunity and partake of as many fresh 
fruit meals as possible. Fresh fruits may be supplemented by un¬ 
sulphured sun-dried or dehydrated fruits in preference to canned 
fruits. Dried fruits contain on an average from 50 to 65 per cent 
of fruit sugar, from 2 to 5 per cent of protein, besides an abundance 
of the alkaline elements, and are therefore from every point of 
view superior to cereals, whose place they should take as fre¬ 
quently as possible. Their fat content is low, but they can be sup¬ 
plemented by nuts or unroasted nut butters, which also furnish 
an additional amount of protein. Some fruits, such as the avocado 
and olive, contain a considerable amount of fat. Dried fruits 
should not be boiled, but only softened in water, which may be 
heated to 120° F., in cold weather. 

While under present conditions we cannot live altogether ra¬ 
tionally, still we are able, with the natural foods available all the 
year round, to make up a wholesome dietary conducive to health, 
efficiency and longevity. 

In the following paragraphs a few food combinations are given, 
which can be easily changed to suit personal taste, seasons or occu¬ 
pation. Those who have to perform a large amount of physical 
work may simply increase the amounts of carbohydrates and fats. 
Those who become accustomed to the use of uncooked foods, will 
find that they will be able to live on much less food than when 
subsisting mostly on cooked foods or food mixtures containing 
meats, refined sugar, white flour, condiments and spices. 

In the fruitarian and uncooked dietary, unroasted nut butters 
should take the place of meat and dairy products. Ideal salad- 
dressing can be made from these pure nut butters, by thoroughly 
mixing them with a sufficient amount of warm water to bring them 


484 


RATIONAL DIET 


to the consistency of cream. Unroasted almond butter is the most 
desirable, as it does not contain any starch and, if properly diluted, 
can be given to infants and convalescents. Further diluted into 
almond milk and sweetened with a little honey, it makes a most 
delicious food drink. 

BREAKFAST 

One dozen dried black mission figs (about 5 oz.) softened in 
water. In cold weather, one spoonful of nut cream may be added. 
One sweet orange or apple. 

In place of figs a similar amount of other dried fruits, such as 
prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, or dates may be eaten. 

During the fruit season about one pound of fresh fruit should 
take the place of dried fruits. The fruit may be cut into slices 
and the nut cream used as a dressing. Three or four ripe bananas 
may occasionally take the place of other fruits. 

DINNER—No. 1 

Combination vegetable salad, consisting of 

J /2 head of lettuce 
2 tomatoes 
2 stalks of celery 
1 or 2 grated carrots 

dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. To this salad may be added 
either one of the following protein foods: 

1 dish of cottage cheese, about 5 oz. 

2 oz. of nut butter, reduced to the consistency of cream 

1 or 2 soft boiled eggs 

One or two slices of whole wheat bread may be taken with this 
meal; or in place of the bread, one baked potato. Fresh water¬ 
cress, mustard leaves, tender spinach leaves or dandelion leaves 
may be used occasionally instead of lettuce. 

DINNER—No. 2 

Combination fruit salad, consisting of 

2 ripe bananas, sliced 

2 medium sized apples, sliced 

1 sweet orange, sliced 

2 oz. of seedless raisins 

1% to 2 oz. of grated nuts 

■ or 2 oz. of nut cream as dressing. 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


485 


No cereal foods should be taken with the fruit salad. During 
the fruit season berries and other fresh fruits may take the place 
of apples. For sweetening both vegetable and fruit salads a tea¬ 
spoonful of honey may be used, if desired. 

SUPPER—No. 1 

One of two kinds of steamed green leaf vegetables (spinach, 
swiss chard, beet tops, cauliflower, mustard leaves, celery tops, cab¬ 
bage, onions). 

One or two baked potatoes with butter. One soft boiled egg 
may be eaten with this meal. 

SUPPER—No. 2 

Boiled whole rice with raisins and nut cream, with the addition 
of a few lettuce leaves, also make a good combination. 

To prepare whole rice, take one cup of whole rice to three cups 
of water and let it come to a boil on a slow fire. Let it simmer for 
at least 45 minutes or more until the kernels have absorbed all the 
water and become soft. The best way to prepare the rice is to put 
it into a fireless cooker after it has been boiling for about ten min¬ 
utes. In this way the rice may be left in the cooker for several 
hours or until it is needed. 

These few meals will give the beginner some idea how to pro¬ 
ceed intelligently in making other combinations. During the 
summer season when plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables are 
available, very little cooking, if any, should be done. 

The above combinations are chiefly intended as a transition diet 
from the ordinary diet to a fruitarian regimen. 

The following articles should be avoided, or used only when 
others are not available: 

Flesh foods of all kinds. 

Refined sugar, candy and canned foods. 

White flour products (white bread, crackers, biscuits, pastries 
and pies). 

Degerminated cereals (cornmeal, polished rice, rolled barley, 
polished millet, etc.). Sago and tapioca starch. 

Sulphured dried fruits (apples, apricots, peaches, pears, silver 
prunes, etc.). 


486 


RATIONAL DIET 


Fruit juices treated with, preservatives (benzoate of soda, sali¬ 
cylic acid, formalin, etc.). 

Pickled foods, jams and jellies. Fried foods. 

Oleomargarine, preserved with benzoate of soda. 

Soft drinks (artificially colored and flavored). 

Salt, spices and condiments. 

Alcoholic beverages, tea and coffee, cocoa and chocolate. 

According to their hygienic value human foods may be classified 
as follows, beginning with the most desirable ones: 

Fresh fruits of all kinds, in their season, if not mixed with any 
other foods. 

Green leaf vegetables, in the form of salads. 

Sun-dried or dehydrated fruits (unsulphured). 

Nuts, unroasted nut butters, and cold pressed vegetable oils. 

Starchy vegetables, if properly prepared. 

Whole grain products and legumes. 

Milk and dairy products. 

Flesh foods of all kinds, the least essential of all foods, which 
have no place in a rational dietary. 

Nature’s most wholesome foods need hardly any artificial prep¬ 
aration. The exquisite flavors and palatableness of her luscious 
fruits, her tasty nuts and cooling green leaf vegetables defy the 
efforts of the most expert cook to improve on her incomparable 
handiwork. The adoption of the fruitarian diet means the eman¬ 
cipation of woman from kitchen slavery. It will enable her to 
devote the time she now spends over the hot kitchen stove in the 
preparation of sumptuous dinners, to the better education of her 
children and to her own culture. 

Diet reform, which in a larger sense means the mental and phy¬ 
sical regeneration of the individual, will be one of the greatest 
factors in establishing a new and better civilization, for it involves 
beneficial reforms which everybody can at once begin to apply to 
himself without waiting for the enactment of legislative measures. 

We cannot rise to higher forms of life, so long as we live 
out of harmony with the laws of nature. To attempt to improve 
mankind by sumptuary mandates has proved futile. We know 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


487 


that the prohibition of manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages 
can never be really enforced while the people pursue their old ways 
of living. Prohibitionists are well meaning, but short-sighted; 
they do not realize that food poisoning is just as detrimental as 
alcohol poisoning. Many of them fall prey to disease and prema¬ 
ture death because they overeat and indulge in strong coffee or 
tea. They are trying to make alcohol the scapegoat of all evils. 
There is no difference, except in degree, between the injurious con¬ 
sequences arising from an excess of the consumption of flesh 
foods, white flour, refined sugar, candy, etc., and that of alcohol. 
However, nothing could be achieved by making laws prohibiting 
the use of refined sugar, white flour, meat, coffee and tea. The 
consumption of alcoholic liquors has probably not appreciably de¬ 
creased in the United States, considering the enormous develop¬ 
ment of “home brew” industry, and the flourishing illicit trade. 
Prohibition of any article of food or drink will always cause a large 
number of people addicted to its use to obtain it by illegitimate 
ways. 

Those who change from conventional eating habits to whole¬ 
some living may, for a few weeks, feel that the plain natural foods 
are not satisfying them. This is due to the fact that the whole¬ 
some fare is lacking in artificial stimulating qualities. People 
who are suddenly deprived of their stimulants lose strength and 
weight. They are enervated. They do not realize that they were 
already enervated before they gave up their stimulating foods, 
which had slowly depleted their vitality. 

Those who have for years lived on a mixed diet, largely meat, 
and then quickly changed, for the sake of experimental purposes 
to a vegetarian diet for a brief period, have been more or less dis¬ 
appointed with the results. This is understandable, for a radical 
change of this kind must necessarily provoke irregularities. Such 
experiments are of little value as they really prove nothing unless 
they are carried on for months or years after a careful study of 
dietetics. By living mostly on cooked foods, people have eaten far 
more than necessary, and naturally their stomach and intestines' 
have become more or less inflated, often leaving an artificial craving 
for more food after their first simple and wholesome meals. 

Overeating exists because such foods as bread, puddings, 
pies and pastries, are tasty and attractive long after a sufficiency has 


488 


RATIONAL DIET 


been eaten. This tendency to please the palate with sugar and 
condiments not only induces overeating, hut removes all desire for 
natural foods. People who have given the subject of diet no at¬ 
tention will inevitably drift into eating habits that create disease, 
for they will eat less of foods which purify the system and more of 
those which favor retention of waste and fail to furnish the vital 
cell-building materials. 

As long as we have no educational system which teaches the 
importance of rational eating, the old dietetic evils will continue 
and the old errors will be handed down from generation to genera¬ 
tion because we ourselves have been educated in the old traditions 
and are working under the same influences as our ancestors. But 
the existing state of things, however discouraging, is not perma¬ 
nent and the history of evolution shows that all nature works un¬ 
ceasingly for progress. 

Man’s lost instinct for natural foods will be replaced by a con¬ 
scious knowledge, resulting from the study of the laws of biol¬ 
ogy and physiological chemistry as well, as by practical experience. 
The fact will be more and more realized that the vegetable kingdom 
is the store house of all nutrition, giving us the greatest variety 
of products from which to select our foods, enabling us to enjoy 
them in their natural state, full of electrical vitality, unblemished 
by the hand of man. 

The continuous wholesale killing of animals for human food, 
is not only a violation of a biological law, but one of the greatest 
economic wastes. To be sure, this change in man’s attitude toward 
the animal world, means a reversal of his habits of life. But the 
human intellect, when exercised, is a power that will correct errors 
of habit without serious physical disturbance. 

It cannot be emphasized too often that many will at first ex¬ 
perience a seeming change for the worse in adopting a rational 
vegetarian or fruitarian diet. The various disagreeable symptoms 
or crises, which will appear in most instances and cause so many 
to quickly return to their old ways of living, are really a sign of 
improvement. The body, which, by the old perverted dietetic 
habits has been encumbered with morbid matter is gradually being 
invigorated by the natural food and is beginning to eliminate the 
poisons which have for years accumulated throughout the system. 
This increased elimination will often be accompanied by a tern- 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


489 


porary feeling of depression and fatigue. But by perseverance in 
the new dietary, these disagreeable symptoms will soon give way 
to normal and healthy reactions. 

There is no victory without struggle and those who do not 
have the will and determination to carry out the once undertaken 
work of self-reformation should rather not begin at all. We realize 
that the physician who demands self-discipline from his patients 
is not very popular. 

“Nothing offends patients more,” writes Dr. Alexander Bryce, 
“than to be asked to change their habits of life. Their desire is 
to be able to break every known law of health; and when they are 
called upon to pay the penalty, they accept complete absolution in 
a bottle or two of medicine. They do not want to be cured, but are 
content to be patched up sufficiently to continue their practice of 
self-indulgence in various forms.” 

To find the fountain of eternal youth and drink from it copi¬ 
ously has been the dream for centuries of many who, feeling the 
premature decline of health and vigor, desire to renew life’s forces 
by some mysterious magic liquid. This desire is most typically 
illustrated in Goethe’s Faust, who in his search to regain youthful¬ 
ness, after a life of dissipation, asks Mephisto: 

“Has neither nature nor a nobler mind 
A balsam yet devised of any kind ? ’ ’ 

Mephisto answers: 

“Here is my remedy, which cures 
Without physician, gold or care: 

Drop luxury, and to the fields repair 
Begin to dig and cultivate thy square. 

Thy senses and thyself confine 
Within a small and happy sphere. 

Support thyself upon a frugal fare 
Like deer and birds, in woods and air. 

This is the surest method, without fail, 

At eighty to grow young again and hale.” 

But Faust, who like so many others, does not want to make the 
effort to follow Mephisto’s sound advice, indignantly replies: 

“I cannot do this, nor can myself degrade 
So far, to work with rake and hoe and spade. 

This narrow life would suit me not at all.” 

Mephisto, realizing his inability to persuade Faust, finally con- 


490 


RATIONAL DIET 


eludes to resort to magic, as nothing else would act so quickly to 
satisfy his impatient companion: 

* ‘ The witch must then be summoned after all. ’’ 

If Faust had lived several hundred years later, Mephisto, in 
all probability would have recommended to him a pair of new 
monkey or goat glands to regain his sprightliness, and to revel 
again in the pleasures of youth. Indeed, we see here in Faust a 
true picture of over-civilized mankind, who lives in self-indulgence 
and then prefers to get “cured’’ quickly by taking some myste¬ 
rious pills or potions, or to undergo the knife of the surgeon rather 
than deviate from ingrained habits, and acquire the practice of self 
control and abstemiousness. 

Diet reform is not as yet a very popular subject, and people 
are apt to listen to those who advise them to 4 ‘Eat what you like 
or eat what agrees with you, ’ ’ and then feel satisfied to blame their 
ills on some imaginary cause. To be sure, there are many who recog¬ 
nize the necessity of rational nutrition, but find it difficult to change 
suddenly their long established habits of life. To these we must 
give stepping stones which will gradually lead to the adoption of a 
natural diet. 

Few people realize what a powerful influence upon our social 
and economic life a change in dietetic habits would have. It would 
mean a new and better system of agriculture and horticulture, im¬ 
proved methods of production, transportation, and distribution of 
the world’s most wholesome foods to bring them at reasonable prices 
within reach of all. These may seem far removed ideals, whose 
realization will require the intense work of many generations, but if 
we consider, seriously, what enormous sums we spend for insane 
warfare, which could be devoted to human progress and well-being, 
we must admit that very much could be accomplished within the 
present generation. With the cooperation of a few men like Bur¬ 
bank, Edison, Steinmetz and Ford, and sane legislative measures 
in regard to tenure and taxation of land, human life could be made 
more wholesome, more useful and enjoyable for the toiling masses 
than it is now. 

True progress does not mean the production and consumption of 
luxuries, but rather the living of a simple, wholesome life, helpful to 
ourselves and our fellowmen. There is no necessity for living a 
life of asceticism, but the more simply one lives in regard to his 


REGENERATION THROUGH DIET 


491 


food, the more he will be satisfied with simplicity and frugality. As 
man learns to enjoy the exquisite and inimitable flavor of natural 
foods, the desire for all stimulants, condiments and artificially 
prepared dishes to tempt the palate will vanish. It is a great mis¬ 
take to regard sumptuous meals as an indication of a better civiliza¬ 
tion. They really lay the foundation for individual and national 
decadence. On the other hand, to the degree that a simple diet 
becomes popular among all classes of people, the collective life of 
the nation will be purer and cleaner, and disease, inebriety and 
crime will decline. 

By strictly conforming to nature’s laws, man should live at 
least one hundred years. He should increase his physical and 
mental powers until he is sixty years of age, and retain them for 
another two score of years. Yet comparatively few instances are 
on record of vigorous men past sixty years of age. 

With the increasing knowledge of our position in nature and 
the laws which govern our being, we may hopefully look forward 
to the time when an age of temperance, an age of sanitary reform, 
an age of plain living and high thinking shall have so regenerated 
man that he will walk the earth a century and more, carrying out 
the great law of evolution, which culminates in the physical and 
mental perfection of the human race. 



















































































































APPENDIX 

Explanations of the Periodic Table of Elements 

The theory of the octave, as applied to the elements, later 
known as the Periodic Theory, was first set forth by the Russian 
scientist, Ivanovitch Mendeleeff. He divided the elements by paral¬ 
lel columns into vertical groups or octaves. The position of the 
different elements in the column is determined by their atomic 
weight, commencing with the lightest and gradually ascending the 
column as the atomic weight increases. 

The elements in Group 0, as far as has been ascertained, have 
no known chemical combination with any other element. The 
elements in Groups 1 and 2 are alkaline. The elements in 3 and 4 
are either weakly alkaline, or weakly acid; the elements in Groups 
5, 6 and 7, are strongly acid. By drawing parallel lines through 
all of the columns, attention is directed to the similarity of the 
elements on the parallel lines; they have similar properties and are 
closely related. This similarity is usually noted in each octave, 
but may be separated by two or more octaves. The electron makes 
up the atoms of all matter, the only difference being in the number 
of electrons, both positive and negative, that their atoms contain. 
Two factors govern atomic vibration: first, the increasing number 
of electrons contained in the atoms; and, second, the relative pre¬ 
dominance of the negative electrons over the positive. 

Explanation of the Tables of Analyses 

The amounts of organic salts in 1000 parts of water free sub¬ 
stance have been calculated by the author with the object of fur¬ 
nishing a means of comparing them on an equal basis with the re¬ 
spective amounts of total mineral matter contained in the solid 
material. Where no figures are given no analysis is available. 
Very few analyses have been made to determine the contents of 
manganese, fluorine and iodine in foods. For this reason these 
elements do not appear in the tables. Some analyses of iodine in 
foods are given in Part I, Chapter XIII. 

Analyses of mineral matter of different foods, grown in dif- 


493 


494 


RATIONAL DIET 


ferent localities should be made frequently, in order to determine 
the variation of their mineral contents and the particular elements 
needed for improving both soil and food products. This is highly 
important, when we consider the fact that many plant diseases and 
insect pests are traceable to impoverished or wrongly fertilized soils. 

The analyses presented in these tables have been taken mostly 
from the following sources: 

Dr. J. Koenig, Chemie der Menschlichen Nahrungs und Genuss- 
mittel (Chemistry of Human Foods and Food-Accessories). 

Dr. E. Wolff, Aschen Analysen (Analyses of Mineral Matter 
in Foods). 

Dr. Ragnar Berg, Die Nahrungs und Genussmittel, ihre Zusam- 
mensetzung und ihr Einfluss auf die Gesundheit mit besonderer 
Beriicksichtigung der Aschen Bestandieile. (Foods, their Compo¬ 
sition and Influence upon Health, with Special Reference to their 
Contents of Mineral Matter.) 

Dr. Henry C. Sherman, Chemistry of Food and Nutrition. 

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, Bulletin 
No. 87, Chemical Composition of some Tropical Fruits and their 
Products. 

Wilson Popenoe, Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits. 


EQUIVALENTS OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 


Avoirdupois Metric 

Eb. Oz. Grains Grams 

2 3 119.9 = 1,000 

1 . • . = 453.6 

3 230.7 = 100 

1 . = 28.3 

• • •. 15.4 = 1 


1 lb.=16 oz.=7,000 grains; 1 oz.=437.5 grains. 

1 kilogram=l,000 grams=15,432 grains. 

1 cubic foot of water=7.48 gallons; weighs 62.5 lbs. 

1 gallon of water=4.54 litres; weighs 8.3 lbs. 

1 cubic foot of air at sea level and 32° F. weighs about 1% oz. 
1 bushel wheat=60 lbs. 

1 bushel shelled corn=56 lbs. 

1 bushel rye=56 lbs. 

1 bushel buckwheat=52 lbs. 

1 bushel oats (in the husk) =32 lbs. 





MENDELEEFF’S PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS MODIFIED 


APPENDIX 


495 


Osmium A. W. 191, E. 147070 

Iridium A. W. 193, E. 148610 

Platinum A. W. 194, E. 149380. 


Radium 
A.W. 257.8 

E198506 

Uranium 

A.W. 238 

E183260 

Thorium 

A.W. 232 

E178640 





10 



Bismuth 
A.W. 208 
E160160 

Lead 

A.W. 206.1 

E158697 

Thallium 

A.W. 204 

E157080 

Mercury 

A.W. 200 

E154000 

Gold 

A.W. 197 

E151690 


05 


Tungsten 
A.W. 184 
E141680 

Tantalum 
A.W. 183 
E140910 

Ce-Yb 
A.W.140-173 

E107800- 

133210 

Lanthanum 
A.W. 138.1 

E106337 

Barium 

A.W. 137 

E105490 

Caesium 

A.W. 132.1 

E101717 

Xenon 

A.W. 128 

E98560 

00 

Ruthenium 101, E. 77770 
Rhodium 103, E. 79310 
Palladium 106, E. 83160 

♦Iodine 
A.W. 127 
E97790 

Tellurium 
A.W. 127.1 
E97867 

Antimony 
A.W. 120 
E92400 

Tin 

A.W. 119 

E91630 

Indium 
A.W. 115 
E88550 

Cadmium 
A.W. 112 
E86240 

Silver 
A.W. 108 

E83160 




Molybdenum 

A.W. 96 
E73920 

Niobium 
A.W. 94 
E72380 

Zirconium 
A.W. 90 

E69300 

Yttrium 
A.W. 89 
E68530 

Strontium 
A.W. 87 

E66990 

Rubidium 
A.W. 85 
E65450 

Krypton 

A.W. 81.1 
E62447 

<x> 

♦Iron A.W. 56 E. 43120 
Nickel A. W. 58, E. 44660 
Cobalt A. W. 59, E. 45430 

Bromine 
A.W. 80 
E61600 

Selenium 
A.W. 79 
E60830 

♦Arsenic 
A.W. 75 
E57750 

Germanium 
A.W. 72 

E55440 

Gallium 
A.W. 70 
E53900 

Zinc 
A.W. 65 
E50050 

Copper 
A.W. 63.1 
E48587 


lO 

♦Manganese 
A.W. 55 
E42350 

Chromium 
A.W. 52 
E40040 

Vanadium 
A.W. 51 
E39270 

Titanium 
A.W. 48 

E36960 

Scandium 
A.W. 44 
E33880 

♦Calcium 
A.W. 40 
E30800 

♦Potassium 
A.W. 39.1 
E30107 

Argon 
A.W. 39 
E30030 s 



♦Chlorine 
A.W. 35.5 
E27335 

♦Sulphur 
A.W. 32 
E24640 

♦Phosphorus 

A.W. 31 
E23870 

♦Silicon 
A.W. 28 

E21560 

♦Aluminum 
A.W. 27 
E20709 

♦Magnesium 

A.W. 24.4 
E18788 

♦Sodium 
A.W. 23 
E17710 

Neon 
A.W. 20 
E15400 

CO 


♦Fluorine 
A.W. 19 
E14630 

♦Oxygen 
A.W. 16 
E12320 

♦Nitrogen 
A.W. 14 
E10780 

♦Carbon 
A.W. 12 

E9240 

Boron 
A.W. 11 
E8470 

Glucinum 
A.W. 9 
E6930 

Lithium 
A.W. 7 
E5390 

Helium 
A.W. 4 
E3080 

<M 

Group 8 

Group 7 

Group 6 

Group 5 

Group 4 

Group 3 

Group 2 

Group 1 

Group 0 

Series 


A.W. = Atomic Weight E == Electrons, with number of negative electrons (corpuscles) in the atom. 
Elements which are concerned with organic life; all others are only found in the inorganic state. 
Hydrogen, the lightest element, A. W. 1, E770 belongs to Group 1, Series 1. 







































































































496 


RATIONAL DIET 


COMPOSITION OF MINERAL MATTER 

IN 1,000 PARTS OF WATER FREE SUBSTANCE 

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TABLE SHOWING VARIATION OF MINERAL MATTER IN FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SAME KIND 


APPENDIX 


507 


PEAS 

41 Analyses 
by 

Dr. Koenig 

Nvrayi 

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COW’S MILK 

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508 


RATIONAL DIET 


APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF FOOD MATERIAL NECESSARY 
TO SUPPLY TWO OUNCES (56 GRAMS) OF PROTEIN 


Shelled Nuts 


Fresh Fruits 


Vegetables 

PlGNOLIAS. 

. 6 

oz. 

Paw Paws. ... 

2 lbs. 

Kohlrabi .... 

. 23 ^ lbs. 

Black Walnuts 7 

oz. 

Avocados. 

4 

lbs. 

Salsify. 

. 2% lbs. 

Butternuts ... 

. 7 

oz. 

Raspberries. . 

. 7 

lbs. 

Spinach. 

. 33^ lbs. 

Peanuts. 

. 7 

oz. 

Apricots. 

8 

lbs. 

Turnips. 

. 33^ lbs. 

Almond Butter 8 

oz. 

Figs, average.. 

. 8 

lbs. 

Savoy Cabbage 3% lbs. 

Almonds. 

. 9 

oz. 

Blackberries. 

.10 

lbs. 

Green Corn.. 

. 4 lbs. 

Pistachios .... 

. 9 

oz. 

Grapes, averagelO 

lbs. 

Cauliflower . 

. 5 lbs. 

Beechnuts .... 

.10 

oz. 

Bananas. 

10 

lbs. 

Asparagus .... 

. 6Hlbs. 

Brazil Nuts .. 

.11 

oz. 

Guavas. 

10 

lbs. 

Potatoes. 

. 7 lbs. 

English 



Cherries. 

12 

lbs. 

Beets. 

8 lbs. 

Walnuts. ... 

.11 

oz. 

Strawberries. 

.12 

lbs. 

Onions. 

8 lbs. 

Filberts. 

. 123 ^ oz. 

Plums. 

12 

lbs. 

Okra. 

. 8 lbs. 

Pinons . 

.14 

oz. 

Huckleberries15 

lbs. 

Lettuce. 

83^ lbs. 

Pecans. 

.16 

oz. 

Peaches. 

15 

lbs. 

Cucumbers. .. 

10 lbs. 

Chestnuts. ... 

.20 

oz. 

Prunes. 

15 

lbs. 

Eggplant. 

10 lbs. 

Cocoanuts, 
dried. 

.30 

oz. 

Oranges. 

15 

lbs. 

Celery. 

.11 lbs. 




Pears. 

20 

lbs. 

Pumpkins. 

.11 lbs. 

Leaumes and Cereals 

Gooseberries.. 23 

lbs. 






lbs. 

Carrots. 

123 ^ lbs. 

Soy Beans, dried 6 

oz. 

Apples, average 25 

Beans, dried... 

. 8 

oz. 




Tomatoes. . . . 

13 H lbs. 

Lentils, dried. 

. 8 

oz. 

Dried Fruits 


Animal Foods 

Peas, dried.. .. 

. 9 

oz. 

Raspberries. . 

AVa lbs. 



Lima Beans, 



Apricots. 

.2 

lbs. 

Human Milk 

5 pints 

dried. 

.10 

oz. 

Carobs. 

.2 

lbs. 

Cow’s Milk 

3 Yi pints 

Green Peas. .. 

.30 

oz. 

Olives. 

.2 

lbs. 

8 Eggs. 

... 16 oz. 

Whole Wheat. 

Rye. 

.14 

.17 

oz. 

oz. 

Black Figs ... 

. 2 34 lbs. 

American Cheese 7 oz. 

Barley. 

.18 

oz. 

Currants 



Swiss Cheese . 

. .. 7 oz. 

Oats. 

.19 

oz. 

(Zante). 

. 23 ^ lbs. 

Lean Meat. . . 


Corn. 

.20 

oz. 

Raisins. 

.3 

lbs. 

Cottage Cheese.. 10 oz. 

Millet. 

.21 

oz. 

Prunes. 

.3 

lbs. 

Meat, average. 

... 10 oz. 

Rice. 

.25 

oz. 

Pears. 

.33^ lbs. 

Sea Fish, average. 10 oz. 

Whole Wheat 
Bread. 

.20 

oz. 

Peaches. 

.4 

lbs. 

Lobster. 


Rye Bread .... 

.21 

oz. 

Dates. 

.4 

lbs. 

Clams . 


White. 

.21 

oz. 

Litchi Nuts .. 

.4 

lbs. 

Oysters. 








































































APPENDIX 


509 


THE PROTEIN QUESTION 

The protein question has been a point of controversy among dietitians 
ever since the days of Baron von Liebig and Dr. Yoit who proclaimed the 
daily protein requirement of the average man as 118 grams (over 4 ounces). 
The careful investigations of Dr. Max Rubner, Director of the Hygienic In¬ 
stitute of the University of Berlin, have shown that only four per cent of 
the entire amount of calories consumed in the body are required in the shape 
of protein; while natural sugars and fats have to make up the balance. For 
instance, if a man consumes 2,500 calories daily, 100 calories, or about one 
ounce of protein, are sufficient. By living on a well balanced fruitarian diet, 
insuring an adequate supply of organic salts and vitamins, iy 2 ounces of 
protein daily are more than ample even during periods of muscular exertion. 
For the average person doing light indoor work, one ounce of protein is suf¬ 
ficient, so that the amounts given in the accompanying table can be safely 
reduced from 25 to 50 per cent. 

The fact that meat protein often shows a higher coefficient of digestibility 
than vegetable protein does not prove its superior value in the actual rebuild¬ 
ing of the living tissues of the human body. In protein coming from the 
tissues of the dead animal the vibratory forces of life are on the descendency, 
while in the living protoplasm of the natural products of the vegetable kingdom 
they are on the ascendency. The excessive consumption of protein, es¬ 
pecially in the form of meat, increases the acidity of blood, favors the accumu¬ 
lation of toxins in the system and is laying the foundation of many diseases, 
like constipation, diabetes, cancer, etc., which are built slowly and often im¬ 
perceptibly in the course of years. 


510 


RATIONAL DIET 


AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF PROTEIN CONTAINED 
IN WATER-FREE SUBSTANCES 


Apples. 2.60 

Gooseberries. 3.50 

Huckleberries. .. 3.70 

Pears. 4.00 

Prunes. 4.40 

Plums. 4.70 

Pineapples. 4.80 

Cherries. 5.00 

Mango. 6.00 

Watermelons. 5.20 

Muskmelons. 5.80 

Grapes. 6.00 

Oranges. 6.10 

Peaches. 6.60 

St. John’s Bread. . 6.80 

Guavas. 7.00 

Raspberries. 7.00 

Watermelons. 7.20 

Figs. 7.40 

Olives. 7.50 

Carrots. 7.70 

Potatoes. 8.00 

Apricots. 8.70 

Blackberries. 8.80 

Rice. 9.00 

Artichokes. 9.00 

Parsnips. 9.00 

Currants.10.00 

Raspberries, blacklO.OO 

Rhubarb.10.00 

Millets.10.00 

Pumpkins .n.00 


Corn.11.20 

White Flour.11.60 

Oats.11.90 

Rutabagas.12.00 

COCOABEANS.12.40 

Pecans.12.40 

Green Corn.12.60 

Barley.12.70 

Beets.12.80 

Onions.12.90 

Rye.13.50 

• 

Whey.14.00 

White Bread.14.20 

Radishes.14.70 

Whole Wheat. .. .15.70 

Okra.15.80 

Tomatoes.15.80 

Eggplant.17.00 

Human Milk.18.00 

Brazil Nuts.18.30 

Garlic.19.00 

Dandelions.20.00 

Celery.20.00 

Lima Beans.20.00 

Swiss Chard.20.40 

Chives.21.70 

Almonds.22.50 

Leeks.22.60 

Brussels Sprouts.23.80 

Mushrooms.23.80 

Lettuce.24.50 

Cowpeas.24.60 


Savoy Cabbage. . .26.00 


Peas.26.90 

Cow’s Milk.27.00 

Cucumbers.27.30 

Cauliflower.27.70 

Beans.28.60 

Asparagus.28.80 

Lentils.29.30 

Salsify.29.40 

Butternuts.29.50 

Spinach.30.00 

Nettles.31.20 

Yolk of Egg.32.00 

Peanuts.32.20 

Buttermilk.33.00 

Collards.34.50 

Turnips.35.00 

Kohlrabi.35.00 

Skim Milk.35.80 

PlGNOLIAS.36.10 

Soy Beans.38.10 

Champignons.42.00 


Cottage Cheese . '£74.50 


Meat, average. . . .80.00 
Blood of 

Bullocks.85.00 

Blood Serum of 

Man.89.00 

White of Egg. .. .89.00 

Fish, average.90.00 

Red Blood 
Corpuscles.97.00 




























































































SODIUM (Na 2 0) 

Contained in 1000 parts of water-free substance 


APPENDIX 


511 


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CALCIUM (CaO) 

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512 


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IRON (Fe 2 0 3 ) 

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APPENDIX 


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CHLORINE (Cl) 

Contained in 1000 parts water-free substance 


APPENDIX 


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The Vitamins, by Dr. Casimir Funk. Williams and Wilkins Co., Bal- " 
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Macrobiotic, by Dr. Julius Hensel. Boericke and Tafel, Philadelphia, 
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U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 45. 

Iron in Food and its Functions in Nutrition, by Dr. H. C. Sherman. 
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The Belation of Lime and Magnesia to Plant Growth. Bureau of Plant 
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Plant Disease and its Belation to Animal Life, by Prof. E. F. Wright. 
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The Natural Food of Man, by Hereward Carrington. C. W. Daniel, 
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The Fruit of the Tree, by Charles W. Forward. Denny & Thomson, 
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Nutrition Investigations among Fruitarians and Chinese, by Prof. M. E. 
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Further Investigations Among Fruitarians at the California Agricultural 
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Digest of Japanese Investigations on the Nutrition of Man, by Kintaro 
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The Science of Eating, by Alfred McCann. The Truth Publishing Co., 
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California Vegetables in Garden and Field, by Prof. Wickson, Pacific 
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The American Fruit Culturist, by John J. Thomas. Orange Judd Co., 
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The World’s Food Besources, by Prof. J. Russell Smith. Henry Holt & 
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Smyrna Fig Culture, by G. P. Rixford. U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 732. 

Fig Culture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Pomology, 
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Propagation and Culture of the Date Palm, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, 
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Dept, of Agriculture, Division of Pomology, Bulletin No. 91. 

The Tuna as Food for Man, U. S. D. A., Bureau of Plant Industry, Bul¬ 
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Nut Growing, by Robert T. Morris. The Macmillan Co., New York. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 


519 


The Origin and Distribution of the Cocoa Palm, U. S. Dept, of Agricul¬ 
ture, National Herbarium, Yol. VII, No. 2. 

The Nut Culturist, by Andrew S. Fuller. Orange Judd Co., New York. 

Bice as Food, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 1195. 

Bice Culture in the United States. U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 110. 

Bice Culture in California. Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 688. 

Corn Meal as a Food and Ways of Using It. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 565. 

Grain Sorghum, by A. Madson. Agricultural Experimental Station, 
Berkeley, Cal., Bulletin 278. 

Food Value of Corn and Corn Products, U. S. D. A. Farmers’ Bulletin 
No. 298. 

Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Other Starchy Boots as Food. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 468. 

Digestibility of Starch of Different Sorts as Affected by Cooking, U. S. 
D. A. Office Exp. Station, Bulletin 202. 

Studies on the Digestibility and Food Value of Legumes. Office Experi¬ 
ment Station, Bulletin No. 187. 

The Avocado in Guatemala, by Wilson Popenoe, U. S. D. A. Bureau of 
Plant Industry, Bulletin No. 743. 

The Pecan, by C. A. Keed, U. S. D. A. Bureau of Plant Industry, Bul¬ 
letin No. 251. 

The Almond in California, by It. H. Taylor. Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Berkeley Cal. Bulletin 297. 

Some Chinese Vegetable Food Materials, U. S. D. A. Office of Experiment 
Station, Bulletin No. 68. 

Losses in Boiling Vegetables, U. S. D. A. Office of Experiment Station, 
Bulletin No. 43. 

Turnips, Beets and other Succulent Boots and their Uses as Food, by C. F. 
Langworthy, U. S. D. A. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 503. 

Bread and Bread Making, by Helen W. Atwater, IJ. S. D. A. Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 389. 

Sugar and its Value as Food, by Mary Hinman Abel, U. S. D. A. Farm¬ 
ers’ Bulletin No. 535. 

Beans, Peas and other Legumes as Food, by Mary Hinman Abel, U. S. 
D. A. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 121. 

Milk as Food. Farmers’ Bulletins No. 74 and 363. 

Facts About Milk. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 42. 

Bacteria in Milk. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 348. 

Varieties of Cheese, Description and Analyses. U. S. D. A. Bureau of 
Animal Industry, Bulletin 608. 

Fermented Milks. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 319. 

Eggs and Their Uses as Food. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 128. 

Food Animals and Meat Consumption in the United States. Bureau of 
Animal Industry, Dept. Circular No. 241. 

Human Food from an Acre of Staple Farm Products. U. S. D. A. 
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 877. 

Shall We Slay to Eat? by Dr. G. H. Kellogg. Battle Creek, Mich. 

Walden, by Henry D. Thoreau. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass. 

Three Acres and Liberty, by Bolton Hall. The Macmillan Co., New 
York. 

Fields, Factories and Workshops, by Peter Kropotkin. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons, New York. 

Dehydration of Fruits, by Profs. W. V, Cruess and A. W. Christie. 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Berkeley, Cal., Bulletin No. 330. 

Some Factors of Dehydrater Efficiency, by Profs. W. Y. Cruess and A. 
W. Christie. Agricultural Experiment Station, Berkeley, Cal., Bulletin 337. 




520 


RATIONAL DIET 


Farm and Home Drying of Fruits and Vegetables, by PRor. Joseph S. 
Caldwell, U. S. D. A. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 984. 

Food Inspection and Analysis, by Albert E. Leach, S. B., and Andrew 
L. Winter, P. L. D. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 

Preservation of Food and Food Examination, by John C. Thresh, M. D., 
and Arthur E. Porter, M. D. J. & O. Churchill Son, 7 Great Marlborough 
Street, London. 

Food Materials and Their Adulteration, by Ellen H. Richards, Whit¬ 
comb & Barrows, Boston, Mass. 

Influence of Food Preservatives and Artificial Colors in Digestion and 
Health, bv Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, U. S. D. A. Bureau of Chemistry, Bulletin 
No. 84. 

Impaired Health; Food (2 volumes) ; Diseases of Women and Easy Child¬ 
birth, Care of Children, by Dr. John H. Tilden, Denver, Colo. 

New Light on Living; Facts and Fancies in Health Foods, by Dr. 
Axel Emil Gibson, Los Angeles, California. 

Think, and Youth, by Dr. George Starr White, Los Angeles, California. 

Eating for Health and Efficiency, by Dr. R. L. Alsaker, St. Louis, Mo. 

Philosophy and Practice of Natural Therapeutics; Vegetarian Cook Book; 
Iridiagnosis, by Dr. H. Lindlahr, Chicago, Ills. 

How Nature Cures, by Emmet Densmore, M. D. Stillman & Co., New 
York. 

Pioneer Teachers, by T. H. Behnke, Elmhurst, Ill. 

Fasting for the Cure of Disease, and Diet in Disease and Systemic Cleans- 
ing, by Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, Olalla, Wash. 

Old Age Deferred, by Dr. Arnold Lorand. F. A. Davis & Co., Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa. 

Natural History of Creation, by Dr. Ernst Haeckel, Jena, Germany. 

Chemie der Menschlichen Nahrungs und Genussmittel (Chemistry of 
Human Foods and Food Accessories), by Dr. J. Koenig. Julius Springer, 
Berlin, Germany. 

Aschen-Analysen (Analyses of Mineral Matter in Foods), by Dr. E. 
Wolff, Germany. 

Die Nahrungs und Genussmittel, ihre Zusammensetzung und ihr Einfluss 
auf die Gesundheit mit besonderer Beruecksichtigung der Aschen Bestandteile 
(Foods, Their Composition and Influence upon Health with Special Reference 
to their Contents of Mineral Matter), by Dr. Ragnar Berg. Holze & Pahl, 
Dresden, Germany. 


INDEX 


A 

Acid, 

acetic, 79, 421 
amino, 45, 146 
benzoic, 46, 423, 426 
citric, 46, 79, 195-197 
fatty, 63 

formic, 321, 322, 423, 428 
gallic, 80 
hydrochloric, 142 
lactic, 80 
malic, 46, 80 
organic, 45, 46, 79 
oxalic, 80, 81 
salicylic, 423, 425 
sulphurous, 179, 180, 430 
sulphuric, 111, 135 
tannic, 80 
tartaric, 46, 80 
uric, 38, 350, 352 
Acidosis, 444 
' Acorn, 243 

analysis of, 243, 499 
bread, 243 

coffee substitute, 243 
meal, 243 

Adenoids, 440, 462 
Adulteration, of foods, 422-438 
Agar-agar, 297 
Agriculture, 102 

the beginning of, 174 
the new, 383-400 
in Japan and China, 384 
Air, 24, 30-33 
Airbaths, 27 
Albumen, 45, 49, 338 
Albuminuria, 420 
Alcohol, 39, 40, 54, 116 

in patent medicines, 405 
Alcoholic beverages, 402-404 
Algae, 67 

Alimentary canal, 21 


Alligator Pear (see Avocado) 
Allspice, 419 

Alkaline elements, 83-110 
Alkalinity of blood, 111 
Almond 

analysis of, 246, 499 
butter, 246 
cream, 246 
milk, 246 
oil, 246 
varieties, 244 

Aluminum, 4, 12, 47, 83, 131 
Amino-acids, 45,347 
Ammonia, 27, 28, 103 
Ammonium salts, 45 
Analyses of foods, 43, 496-507 
Anemia, 25, 121, 440 
Animal heat, 121 
magnetism, 121 
Ankylosis, 440 

Antitoxin, 47, 102, 111, 447, 454, 460 
Apes, anthropoid, 169 
Apples, 181, 182, 496 
analyses of, 183 

annual production in the U. 8., 
182 

varieties, 182 
yield per acre, 182 
Apoplexy, 70 
Apricots, 184 

analysis of, 184, 496, 498 
Arrowroot, 292 
Chinese, 252 
Arsenic, 12, 47, 83, 145 
Arteries, 89-90, 116 

hardening of, 116, 470 
Arteriosclerosis, 36, 116, 440 
cause of, 470 
diet in, 470 
drugs fatal in, 470 
Arthritis, 440 


521 


522 


RATIONAL DIET 


Artichokes, 280 

analysis of, 500 
Asparagus, 288 

analysis of, 500 
Assimilation, 22, 42 
Asthma, 117, 137 
Atoms, 4, 5, 6, 13 
Atomic Theory, 4, 5 
Atomic weight of elements, 495 
Autointoxication (Toxemia), 450- 
454, 487 

Auzimour Bernard, report on the 
diet of Arabs, 357, 358 
Avocado, 198-202 

analysis of, 198, 497 
in Florida, 199-202 
in Guatemala, 199, 200 
Southern California, 199, 202 

B 

Bacilli, 47, 98, 104, 445 
Bacteria, 13, 35, 74, 88, 115, 315, 445 
Bacteriology, 445 
Bananas, 180, 202-204 

analysis, 203, 204, 497 
production of, 203 
Banana Figs, 381 
Banting cure, 111 
Barley, 306 

analysis of, 502 
flour, 307 
pearled, 307 
Beans, 315, 316 

analysis of, 504 
Egyptian, 251 
varieties, 315, 316 
Beechnut, 246 

analysis of, 499 
Beef, analysis of, 506 
Bees, 320, 321 
Beets, 283 

analysis of, 500 
Bell, Sir Charles, 169 
Bile, analysis of, 506 
Benzoic acid, 44, 423, 426 
Beri-beri, 60, 128, 137, 313 
in the Philippines, 448 


Berries, 192-194 
Bile, 37, 109, 124 
Bills of fare, rational, 484, 485 
Biochemistry, 87 
Biochemic 1 ‘Tissue Salts , ff 87 
Birds’ nests, edible, 297 
Blackberries, 192 
analysis of, 496 
Bladderstones, 109 
Blayton’s experiments with sun¬ 
light, 25, 26 

Bleaching of flour, 435, 436 
Blood, 21, 39, 99, 109 
analysis of, 560 
acidity of, 104, 110, 111 
alkalinity of, 104, 110, 111 
Amount of, in body, 89, 90 
arterial, 29 
circulation of, 89, 90 
venous, 29 
Blood of bullock, 
analysis of, 506 
Blood of calf, 

analysis of, 506 
Blood of hog, 

analysis of, 506 
Blood of sheep, 

analysis of, 506 
Blood corpuscles, red, 31, 90 
analysis of, 506 
white, 25 
Blood plasma, 

analysis of, 506 
Blood serum, 89 

analysis of, 506 
Blue, General Rupert, 

report on state of health in the 
U. S., 439 
Bobveal, 331 

Body, human composition of, 83, 84 
Bones, composition of, 51, 101 
analysis of, 506 
Brain, 15, 22 

analysis of, 506 
Brazil nut, 264 

analysis of, 264, 499 


INDEX 


523 


Bread, falsely called the staff of 
life, 398 
analysis of, 503 
making, 304, 305, 481 
Breakfast, rational, 484, 485 
Bread fruit, 204 

analysis of, 205, 497 
Breathing, 31 
Bright's disease, 468, 469 
Broccoli, 250 
Bromine, 44 
Brussels sprouts, 250 
analysis of, 500 
Bryce, Dr. Alexander 

on rational living, 489 
Buckwheat, 307 

analysis of, 502 
flour, 307 

Bull, Dr. William T., 
on cancer, 466, 467 
Bunge, Professor 
on salt, 92 
Butter, 

analysis of, 505 
Buttermilk, 335 

analysis of, 336, 505 
Butter nut, 258 

analysis of, 499 

O 

Cabbage, 280 

analysis of, 500 
Cacao, 409-411 
Cactus fruit, 206 

analysis of, 206, 497 
Caffein, 405 

Cajori's experiments on the digesti¬ 
bility of nuts, 240, 241 
Calcium, 4, 12, 47, 83, 99, 112-117 
requirements of the body, 117 
bicarbonate, 34, 35 
spar, 112 
sulphate of, 36 

California, development of agricul¬ 
tural resources, 391-393 
Calories, 44, 94, 104, 461 


Cancer, 98, 137, 463-468 

a disease of modern civilization, 
463, 464 
of liver, 466 
of stomach, 466 

increasing in meat-eating coun¬ 
tries, 465 

in relation to alcohol consump¬ 
tion, 465 

remedial diet for, 467 
unknown among vegetarians, 
465, 466 

Cancer Research Fund, 
report of, 466 
Cancer statistics, 467 
Candlenut, 264 

analysis, 265, 499 

Candy, consumption of in the U. 8., 
94 

Cane sugar, 67, 68 
Canning of foods, 365 
Canteloupe, 274 
Capillaries, 90, 116 
Capsicum, 276, 418 
Capsicin, 418 

Caraway seeds, analysis of, 503 
Carbon, 4, 12, 13, 18, 45, 62 
Carbonate of lime, 101 
Carbohydrates, 45, 46, 52, 62, 67-78, 
106, 110 
inversion of, 67 

Carbon dioxide, 12, 14, 18, 27, 28, 29, 
30, 31, 34, 38, 46, 52, 69 
Carnin, 351 
Carob, 205, 206 

analysis of, 206, 504 
Carrageen, 297 
Carpenter, William P., 169 
Carrots, 283 

analysis of, 500 
Cartilage, 99, 101 
Casein, 45, 49 
Cashew Apple, 265 
cashew nut, 265 
Cassava, 293 

analysis of, 293, 503 
starch, 293 


524 


RATIONAL DIET 


Cassia, 418 
Castanopsis, 247 
Castor bean, 64 
Castor oil, 64 

Catarrhal conditions, 40, 69 
Cattle raising, wastefulness of, 360, 
361, 476, 477 
Cauliflower, 280 
analysis of, 500 
Celeriac, 285 

analysis of, 500 
Cells, 17 

epithelial, 19, 20, 21 
Celery, 280, 281 

analysis of, 500 
Cellulose, 46, 67, 77 
digestibility of, 77 
percentage in foods, 78 
Cereals, 77, 92 

analysis of, 298, 304 
deficient in alkaline elements, 92, 
95, 298 

demineralized, 94, 95 
too rich in nitrogen and phos¬ 
phoric acid, 105 

preparation and use of, 481, 482 

production in the U. S., 299 
world’s production, 299 
Chard, Swiss, 280 
analysis of, 501 
Chayote, 273 
Cheese, 337, 338 
analyses of, 505 
cottage, 337 
de Brie, 337 
Mont Dore, 337 
Neufchatel, 337 
Parmesan, 338 
Boquefort, 337 
Savoy, 337 
Swiss, 337 
Cherimoya, 207 

analysis of, 497 
Cherries, 187 

analysis of, 496 


Chestnut, 248-250 
analysis of, 299 
American, 250 
Chinkapin, 250 
Japanese, 250 
Chestnut flour, 249 
Chewing gum, 

consumption of, in the U. S., 94 
Chyle, 20 
Chick-pea, 316 

analysis of, 504 
Chicken meat, 

analysis of, 506 
Chicory, 281 

Children’s diseases, 442, 451 
Chinquapin, 251 

Chittenden’s experiments, 54, 57 
Chives, 286 

analysis of, 500 
Chloride of calcium, 36, 39 
Chloride of potassium, 92, 141 
Chloride of sodium, 88, 141, 143 
Chlorine, 4, 12, 47, 109, 140-143 
Chlorophyl, 62, 74, 87, 88, 114, 119 
Chlorosis, 128, 129 
Chocolate, 409, 411, 445 
analysis of, 504 
Cholera, 98 
Cholesterins, 64, 65 
Cholin, 64 

Christie, Professor A. W., 
on dehydration, 368, 370 
Chufa (earth almond), 263 
analysis of, 263, 499 
oil, 263 

Cigarettes, consumption of, in the 
U. S., 417 
Cinnamon, 418 
Citric acid, 46, 79, 195-197 
Citron, 195 

Clams, analysis of, 506 
Cloves, 418 

Coaltar dyes, 431, 433, 434 
Coca, 413, 415 
Cocaine, 414, 415 

consumption of, 414 
smuggling of, 414 


INDEX 


525 


Cochineal, 431, 432 
Cocoa, 409-411 

alkaloids in, 410 
analysis of, 410, 504 
production of, 411 
Cocoanut, 180, 266 

analysis of, 267, 499 
dried (copra) 267 
Cocoanut butter, 266 
Cocoanut oil, 267 
Coffee, 39, 40, 405, 406 

consumption of, 405, 406, 445 
analysis of, 405 
alkaloids in, 405 
Colds, 30 

Cold storage of foods, 366 

Collagen, 51 

Collards, 

analysis of, 500 

Compound, chemical definition of, 5 
Condiments, 40, 401-421 
Confectionery, consumption of, in 
the U. S., 69 

Consciousness, theory of, 22 
Constipation, 36, 40, 78, 110, 463 
cause of, 465 
Consumption, 98 
Contagious diseases, 98 
Copper, 4, 145 
Copra, 267, 382 
Corn., 308 

analysis of, 502 
green, 308 
meal, 308 
oil, 63, 308 
starch, 308 
syrup, 308 
Corpulency, 117 
Corpuscles, 6, 8, 16 
Cottage cheese, 336, 478 
analysis of, 505 
Cottonseed, 320 
oil, 63, 320 

Cow’s feed, artificial, 331 
Cow peas, 315 

analysis of, 504 


Cowtree, 207 

analysis of its milky juice, 208 
Crabs, analysis of, 505 
Cranberries, 192 
analysis of, 496 
Cream, 335 

analysis of, 335 
Cream of tartar, 80 
Creatin, 351 
Creatinin, 351 

Crisis, during a change of diet, 488 
Cruess, Professor W. V., on dehy¬ 
dration, 368-370 
Cucumbers, 273 

analysis of, 500 
Curcubita, 277 
Currants, 193 

analyses of, 496 
Currants, Zante, 189 
Curvature of spine, 117, 440 
Custard apple, 207 
Cuvier, Baron, 169 

D 

Dairy products, 59, 61, 94, 324-328, 
478 

Dandelion, 281 

analysis of, 500 
Darwin, Charles, 169 
Dasheen, 294 

analysis of, 294 
Dates, 214-217 

analysis of, 217, 497 
cultivation of, 214-216 
history of, 213 
varieties, 216, 217 
Davis, Sir Humphrey, 

on mineral fertilizers, 85 
Deficiency diseases, 60, 69, 70 
Degeneration, fatty, 70 
Dehydration of foods, 179, 365, 382 
advantages over canning, 380 
reduction in weight by, 381 
Dehydraters, 

air blast types, 375 
tunnel types, 374-380 
recirculation of air in, 379 


526 


RATIONAL DIET 


Dewberry, 193 
Dewey, Dr. H. E., 

on the cause of disease, 455 
Dextrin, 46, 67, 71, 76 
Dextrose, 67, 68 
Diabetes, 70, 137, 440 

cause and natural cure, 468 
statistics, 468, 469 
Diarrhea, 

Diastase, 68, 73 
Diet, 

of Arabs, 357, 358 
of Eskimos, 342, 476 
of Japanese, 60, 356 
errors in, 42, 54, 94, 345, 346, 
347, 455 

low protein, 58-60 
mixed, 477 
mono-, 479 
raw food, 480, 481 
regeneration through, 475-491 
in the tropics, 474 
Digestion, process of, 22, 37, 39 
Digestibility of food, 44 
Digestive juices, 39 
Dill, analysis of, 500 
Disaccharides, 67 
Disease, nature of, 450-454 

prevention of, 98, 111, 475-490 
Diseases, venereal, 440 
Distilled liquors, 402 
Distilled water, 35-37 
Diphtheria, 109, 457 
Drinks, artificially colored, 434 
Drug industry, 

growth in the United States, 454 
Drunkenness, caused by modern cook¬ 
ery, 404 
Durian, 218-219 

analysis of, 219, 497 
Durras, 310 
Durum wheat, 302 
Dyes, mineral, 433 
Dyes, vegetable, 432 
annatto, 432 
carrot juice, 432 
gamboge, 432 


Dyes, indigo, 432 
logwood, 432 
saffran, 432 
turmeric, 432 
Dysentery, 473 

E 

Eden, garden of, 175 
Egg albumin, 50 
Eggplant, 273 

analysis of, 274, 500 
Eggs, 338-340 

analysis of, 338-339, 505 
preparation of, 339 
preservation of, 340 
spoiled, 339 
Elderberries, 193 
Electricity, 7, 11 

vital, 43, 48, 87, 95, 97, 99, 102 
Electrons, 6-9, 493 
Electronic theory, 6, 7, 12 
Electro-magnetic properties of cells, 
100 

Elements, 4, 5, 6, 46, 48 
acid-binding, 106-131 
acid-forming, 132-145 
periodicity of, 6 

Elimination of waste matter, 36-39 
Elixirs of life, 102, 489 
Emotions, 15 

Emulsions of fats, 65, 241 

Endive, 281 

Energy, 

of cohesion, 3 
chemical, 3-14 
of elasticity, 3 
electrical, 3 
of gravitation, 3 
of heat, 3 
magnetic, 3 
radiant, 3 
vital, 3 

Energy, the only reality, 7 
kinetic, 12, 13, 14, 44 
potential, 12, 13, 14, 44 
law of conservation, 18 


INDEX 


527 


Energy, laws of consumption in 
nutrition, 14 
Enzymes, 73-75 
Enzymic action, 67, 73-74 
Epidemics, 446 
Espalier fruits, 385 
yield of, 385 
Evaporators, 380 
Essential oils, 64 
Evolution, doctrine of, 22, 100 
Ewe’s milk, 

analysis of, 505 

F 

Farm life in the New England 
States, 389 

Fat, percentage in foods, 65, 66 
Fats, 45, 46, 48, 52, 62, 101 
animal, 62, 63 
composition, 62 
emulsification, 109 
formation, 62 
free, 64, 65 
neutral, 65 

saponification of, 65, 109 
vegetable, 62-65 
Fatty acids, 63 
Feijoa, 219, 220 

analysis of, 220, 497 
Feldspar, 106 
Fermentation, 70 
Fertilizers, nitrogenous, 102, 103 
Fertilization, 153-165, 387 
faulty, 154-156, 159-164 
Fevers, climatic, 472 
Fibers, muscular, 20 
Fibrin, 25, 95 
Figs, 208-213 

analyses of, 212, 497 
history of, 209 
Adriatic, 209 
Black Mission, 209 
Kadota, 210 
Smyrna, 209, 210 
Filberts, 252 

analysis of, 252, 499 


Fish, 

analysis of, 506 
as food in Japan, 59, 344, 345 
Fisher, Dr. Irving 

Health Report, 452 
Flaxseed, 319 

analysis of, 503 
oil, 63 

Flesh foods, 341-361 
analysis of, 506 
proteins in, 51 

consumption of, in the U. S., 
341, 343, 344 

consumption of, in the leading 
countries, 343, 344 
Flexner, Dr. S. on vivisection, 458 
Flour, 302 

analysis of, 502 
bleaching of, 302 
Fluoride of calcium, 143 
Fluorine, 4, 12, 47, 83, 90, 96, 142, 143 
Food, 

adulteration, 422-438 
artificial coloring of, 431 
artificial preparation of, 90 
constituents of, 41, 42 
consumption of in the U. S., 443, 
444 

contents of sodium, 511 
contents of calcium, 512 
contents of iron, 513 
contents of phosphorus, 514 
contents of protein, 510 
contents of chlorine, 515 
functions of, 42, 90 
poisoning, 487 
preservation, 366, 367, 381 
principles, 42-48 
salts (see organic salts) 
uncooked, 54, 96, 480, 481 
Forest land, 

devastated areas, 386 
Forestry, science of, 387 
Formaldehyde, 423, 429 
Fossils, 100 
Frijoles, 309 


528 


RATIONAL DIET 


Fruits, 176-238 
canned, 365 
citrus, 194, 198 
classification, 177 
consumption, of, 178, 179 
deciduous, 181-190 
dehydration of, 179, 365, 382 
dietetic value of, 116, 178 
espalier, 385 

hygienic value of, 176, 178 
sulphuring of, 179, 180 
sundrying of, 179, 180 
subtropical and tropical, 194-238 
Fruit diet, exclusive, 40 
Fruit fast, 471 

Fruit juices, unfermented, 40 
Fruit trees, 

increased food production by, 
387 

yield of, compared with that of 
cereals, 397 
Fruit colony, “Eden,” 

Oranienburg, Germany, 393 
Fruitarian Diet, 54, 55 

ideal diet of man, 482, 483 
Fruitose, 67 

Fruit sugar, 67, 177, 178 
Fungi, 25, 85, 88, 115 
Fungi, edible, 295, 296 

champignons, 295, 296 
mushrooms, 295, 296 
truffles, 295, 296 
analyses of, 503 

G 

Galactans, 67 
Galactose, 67 
Gallstones, 109 
Garbanzo, 316 

analysis of, 504 
Garlic, 286 

analysis of, 500 
Gastric juice, 142 
Gelatin, 45, 48, 49, 51, 116 
Geological periods, 170-174 
Germs of disease, 47, 85, 98, 101, 102, 
104 


Germ theory, fallacy of, 445, 446, 
449 

Gherkins, 273 
Ginger, 287 

analysis of, 288 
Glacial periods, 171-174 
Glands, activity of, 21 

mammary, 21, 324, 328, 329 
Glandular secretions, 40 
Glimmer, 96 
Globulin, 49, 50, 96 
Glucose, 67, 68, 69, 107 
Glue in foods, 436, 437 
Gluten, 45, 49, 73 
Glutenin, 49 
Glycerin, 63 

Glycogen, 67, 70, 71, 107 
Goats, milk, 332 

digestibility of, 332 
Goethe, on natural living, 489, 490 
Goitre, cause of, 144, 440 
Gold, 4 

Gooseberries, 193 
analysis of, 496 
Gourds, 277 

Gout, cause and cure, 469 
Granules of starch, in grains, 73 
Grape, 187-190 

analysis of, 189, 190, 496 
cure, 189 
juice, 188-189 
origin of, 187 

production in California, 189 
sugar, 167 
varieties, 189 
Grape fruit, 196 

analysis of, 196, 497 
Green leaf vegetables, 280, 282 
Ground nut (see peanut) 

Guava, 220 

analysis of, 497 
Gum, arabic, 46 
chewing, 94 
Gumbo (see okra) 


INDEX 


529 


H 

Hadwen, Dr. W. R., 

on antitoxin, 450, 455 
Haeckel, Dr. Ernst, 169 
Hazelnuts, 251, 252 
analysis of, 499 
Heart diseases, 470, 471 
Heat, animal, 121 

Hemoglobin, 50, 51, 90, 118, 119, 124, 
125 

analysis of, 90 
Hemorrhoids, 137 
Hemp, 415 
Hensel, Julius, 

on mineral fertilizers, 86 
Hempseed oil, 64 
Hernia, 440 
Heroin, 413 
Hickory nut, 252 

Hale’s paper shell, 254 
species of, 253 
Hickory nut milk, 253 
Hindhede, Dr., on meat eating, 359 
Hominy, 309 
Honey, 68, 320-322 

analysis of, 320-322 
nectar of flowers, 321 
formic acid in, 321, 322 
Hookworm disease, 309, 440 
Horn chestnut, 257 
Horticulture, intensive, 

in Belgium and France, 384, 385 
Horseradish, 287 

analysis of, 287, 500 
Huckleberries, 194 
analysis of, 496 

Human body, constituents of, 83, 84, 
506 

Humus, 157 

Humic acid, 157 

Hydrotherapy, 460 

Hydrogen, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 18, 45, 62 

Hygrometer, 373 

Hyperacidity, 110, 111 

Huxley, 

definition of protoplasm, 17 


I 

Ice cream, 

adulteration of, 436, 437 
consumption of, 94 
Iceland moss, 296, 297 
analysis of, 296 
Indians, North American,, 
state of health of, 442 
Infant feeding, 103, 332, 333, 334, 
480, 481 

Infants, mortality of, 103, 333, 442 
Infantile paralysis, 

due to wrong feeding, 333, 334 
Influenza, 446 
Inulin, 292 
Invertin, 68 

Iodine, 12, 47, 83, 143, 144 
Ions, 6, 7, 8 

Ireland, Surgeon, General, health 
report, 439 
Irish moss, 297 

Iron, 4, 5, 12, 47, 79, 88, 99, 104, 118, 
129 

in blood, 88, 89, 119, 121 

in cereals, 97 

deficiency of, 62, 69, 124 

fatal to fungi, 124 

in foods, 91, 118, 119, 126, 129 

in liver, 104, 120 

in milk, 104, 126, 127 

in spleen, 104, 120, 127 

inorganic, 88, 89 

Irrigation projects in the U. S., 391 

J 

Jackfruit, 221 

analysis of, 222 

Jaffa’s nutrition experiments, 54, 
55, 56 

Jenner, Dr., 

originator of vaccination against 
smallpox, 446 
Jerusalem artichoke, 292 
analysis of, 500 
Jujube, 224 

analysis of, 224, 497 


530 


RATIONAL DIET 


K 

-N 

Kafir corn, 308 
Kale, 280 

analysis of, 500 
Kephir, 336 

Kidneys, 11, 29, 36, 37, 52 
Kidney diseases, 70, 468, 469 
Kiln drier, 375 

King, Professor, on Chinese agricul¬ 
ture, 384 
Kohlrabi, 284 

analysis of, 500 
Kola nut, 408 

analysis of, 408 
caffein in kolanut, 408 
Kolin, 408 
Koumiss, 336 
Kumquat, 196 

L 

Lactation, diet during, 334, 480, 481 
Lacteals, 20, 39 
Lactic acid, 70 

Lacto-vegetarianism, 58, 355, 478 
Lactose, 67 
Lamarck, 169 
Lard, amount of fat in, 65 
Laxative diet, 77, 78 
foods, 78 

Lead poisoning, 35 
Leeks, 286 

analysis of, 501 
Lecithin, 64, 65, 132-134, 136 
Legumes, 315-319, 478 
boiling of, 36 
purin bodies in, 316 
Legumin, 45, 49 
Lemuria, 171 
Lemon, 194 

analysis of, 195, 497 
medicinal value, 194 
yield per acre, 194 
Lentils, 316-318 

analysis of, 504 

Leprosy, cause of, 117, 130, 137 


Lettuce, 287 

analysis of, 500 
Levulin, 292 
Levulose, 67, 68 
Lichenin, 296 
Lichens, 81, 296, 297 
Liebig’s dietary standards, 54 
ideas of fertilization, 86 
ideas on diet, 355 
Life, origin of, 23, 170 
principle, 43 
problem of, 23, 24 
prolongation of, 32, 489, 490 
Ligaments, 51 
Lima Beans, 317 
analysis of, 504 
Lime (calcium) in foods, 512 
in leaves, 114 
water, 35, 36 
carbonate of, 88 
phosphate of, 88, 89 
Limes, 195 

analysis of, 497 
Lime juice, 35 

Lindlahr, Dr., on fertilization of 
soil, 163, 164 
Linseed oil, 64, 319 
Lippincott, Dr., Chief Surgeon, 

report on Vaccination in the 
Philippines, 447 
Litchi nut, 222 

analysis of, 223, 497 
Liver, 52, 107 

analysis of, 506 
diseases of, 70, 471 
functions of, 351, 471 
function in carnivorous animals, 
351 

Lobster, analysis of, 506 
Loganberry, 193 
Loquat, 224, 225 

analysis of, 225, 497 
Lotus, 251 

Lungs, 28, 29, 30, 39 
constituents of, 506 
Lymph, 21, 40, 109 

constituents of, 506 


INDEX 


531 


M 

Macaroni, 304 
McCollum, 

experiments with vitamins, 146 
Mace, 419 

Magnesium, 4, 47, 83, 99, 113, 114, 
115 

properties of, 113, 114 
in bones, 101 
in foods, 117 
Magnetism, 44, 48 

vital, 94, 99, lOii, 104 
Maize, 308 
Malaria, 473 
Malic acid, 46, 80 

amount in foods, 81 
Malpighian corpuscles, 123, 124 
Maltose, 67, 68 
Malt sugar, 68 
Mammalia, orders of, 169 
Mammey, 227 

Man, anatomical structure of, 174 
descent of, 172, 173 
natural diet of, 169-175 
normal age of, 490 
Mandarin orange (see tangerine) 
Manganese, 4, 47, 83, 130 
as fertilizer, 131 
Mango, 225 

analysis of, 225, 497 
Mangosteen, 226 
Maple, 

sap, 322, 323 
sugar, 322, 323 
syrup, 322, 323 
analysis of, 504 
Mare’s milk, 

analysis of, 505 

Margarine butters, 65, 242, 267 
Market gardeners, 
near Paris, 385 
on the Channel Islands, 385 
near Chicago and New York, 
385 

Mastication, importance of, 77 
Mate (Paraguay tea), 409 
Materia medica, failure of, 454 


McCann, A., on dairy cows, 330 
on adulteration, 437 
Mayo, Dr. William J., 

on cause of cancer, 464 
Meat, 

acid forming, 92, 94, 444 
analysis of, 349, 506 
consumption of, 54, 94 
consumption in Japan, 59 
consumption in U. S., 343, 344 
consumption in the leading coun¬ 
tries, 345 

consumption decreasing, 476, 477 
deficient in alkaline elements, 
92, 94 

extracts, 351 

injurious to health, 54, 476 
lean, a starvation food, 148, 355 
pickled, 349 

purin. bodies in, 349, 350, 351 
tinned, 349 
trichinae in, 351 
value of iron in, 347 
Meat-eating, 

misleading arguments in favor 
of, 345, 346, 347 
on the decrease, 476, 477 
man not adapted to, 349, 351 
Socrates on., 362 
Medlar, 183 

analysis of, 496 
Melon, 274 

casaba, 274 
musk, 274 
Persian, 275 
Mucus, 20 

Menus, simple and. wholesome, 484, 
485 

Metabolism, 52 

Metallic impurities in food, 435 
lead salts, 435 
tin salts, 435 

Microbes, 28, 445, 446, 449 
Milch cows, 324 
Milk, 324-338 

analysis of, 97, 102, 104, 335, 
336, 505 


532 


RATIONAL DIET 


Milk, boiling of, 95, 96, 328, 330 
casein in, 326 
cure, 479 

digestibility of, 329, 330 
fat in, 326 
fermented, 336 
in Japan, 326 
lecithin in, 328 
modified, 329 

mother’s, changes in composi¬ 
tion during nursing, 59 
analysis of, 505 
pasteurized, 102, 332 
raw, 95, 328, 332 
skimmed, 335 
analysis of, 335 
sterilized, 95 
sugar, 46, 67, 70 
vitamins in, 327 
Millet, 309 

analysis of, 502 
Mineral elements, 42, 43, 97, 98 
inorganic, 42 

polaric distribution of, 98, 99, 
103 

organic, 42, 43, 47 
variation in foods, 97, 98, 507 
Milo, 

dwarf, 310 
white, 310 
analysis of, 502 
Mirabelles, analysis of, 496 
Mithridates VI, King, 446, and the- 
riaca, 446 

Moisture carrying capacity of air, 
372 

control of, in dehydration, 373 
Molasses, 314 
Molecules, 4, 5, 17 
Molecular theory, 4 
Moleschott, 

on phosphorus, 133, 354 
Mollusca, 112 
Monera, 16 
Mono diet, 479 
Mono saccharides, 67, 68 
Morels, 295, 296 


Morgan, Sampson, 

on fertilization, 160-163, 399 
Morphine, 411, 413 
Morris, Robert T., on nut growing, 
395 

Moss (carrageen), 

Iceland, 296, 297 
Irish, 297 

analyses of, 296, 297 
Mother’s milk, 332 

digestibility of, 332 
Mulberry, 193 

analysis of, 496 
leaves, 100 

Muscular contraction, 15 
Muscular tissues, 99 
analysis of, 506 
Mushrooms, 295, 296 
poisonous, 295, 296 
analysis of, 503 
Muskmelon, 274 

analysis of, 496 
Mustard, 419 
greens, 281 
seeds, 419 
analysis of, 503 
Mutton, 

consumption of, 343, 344 
Myosin, 49 

N 

Narcotics, 401-421 
Nectarines, 186 

analysis of, 496 
Nervous system, 15 
Nicotin, 416 

Nitrogen, 12, 13, 18, 27, 30, 33 
compounds, 45 

equilibrium in the human body, 
56, 57 

properties of, 13 
Noodles, 304 

Nucleo proteins, 49, 51, 52, 88, 99, 
114, 137 
Nucleus, 17 

formation in protoplasm, 17 
Nutmeg, 419 


INDEX 


533 


Nutrition, 20, 21, 22, 41, 42 
faulty and disease, 439-452 
Nutritive functions, 20, 21, 22 
Nuts, 239, 269, 419 

composition of, 239 
consumption of, 242 
digestibility of, 241 
digestion experiments with, con¬ 
ducted by Professors Ca- 
jori, Huber and Jaffa, 240, 
241 

production of in the U. S., 242 
Nut butters, 61, 241, 242 
Nut proteins, 398 
Nut trees, 

importance of, 395, 398 

O 

Oats, 307 

analysis of,. 502 
Obesity, 137 
Oil, 

almond, 246 
cocoanut, 267 
cottonseed, 63, 320 
lemon, 194 
olive, 63, 228 
rape, 320 

peanut, 63, 262, 265 
sesame, 64, 319 
soy bean, 317 
Oils, cold pressed, 63 
hydrogenated, 63 
essential, 64 
volatile, 64 
Okra, 275 

analysis of, 276, 501 
Oleic acid, 63 
Olein., 63 
Olive, 227-229 

analysis of, 229, 497 
oil, 63, 228 

pickling process of, 228 
Onions, 286 

analysis of, 286, 501 


Operations, surgical, 94, 462 
Opium, 411-413 

consumption in the U. S., 413 
consumption in Asia, 413 
consumption in Europe, 413 
eating habits, 411, 412 
effects of, on the nervous sys¬ 
tem, 412 
history of, 412 
war, 412 
Orange, 196-198 

analysis of, 197, 198, 497 
juice, value during nursing pe¬ 
riod, 332 
Orange orchards, 

yield per acre, 197 
Organic acids, 45, 46, 79, 80, 81, 82 
Organic compounds, 42 
Organic salts, 15, 47, 48, 57, 85, 93 
acid binding, 106-132 
acid forming, 133-145 
electro-magnetic properties of, 
48 

variation of, in foods, 97, 98, 507 
Organism, 

unicellular, 19, 22 

Oshima’s dietary studies, 58, 59, 60 
report on the diet of Japanese, 
356 

Osier, Sir William, 

on rational diet versus drugs, 
474 

Osmosis, 21, 84, 93 
Osteomalacia, 113 
Osteopathy, 460 
Owen, Sir Richard, 169 
Oxalic acid, 80, 81 
Oxaluria, 80, 81 
Oxenstierna, Count, 

criticism of governments, 386 
Oxygen, 4, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 27, 29- 
34, 43-45, 52, 62 
consumption of, 31, 32, 33 
Oysters, 

analysis of, 506 
Oyster plant (see salsify) 


534 


RATIONAL DIET 


p 

Palmitic acid, 63 
Palmitin, 63 
Pancreatic juice, 68 
Papaya, 229, 230 

analysis of, 230, 497 
Paradise nuts, 265 
Paralysis, 70 
Parasites, 106 

Parker, Dr. Willard, on cancer, 464 
Parsley, 288 

analysis of, 501 
Parsnips, 285 

analysis of, 501 

Pasteurization of milk, 329, 331, 332, 
366 

Pastry, 69 
Pathology, 

simplified physiological chemis¬ 
try, 98 
Pawpaw, 190 

analysis of, 191 
Peas, 315, 316, 318 
analysis of, 97, 504 
chick, 316 
cow, 315 
sugar, 315, 318 
Peaches, 185-187 

analysis of, 186, 187, 496, 498 
production in the U. S., 185 
varieties, 186 
Peanuts, 26 

analysis of, 262, 499 
Spanish, 261 
Virginia, 261 
yield per acre, 261 
Peanut butter, 262 
Peanut oil, 63, 262, 265 
Pears, 183 

varieties of, 183 
analysis of, 496 
Pecan, 255, 256 

analysis of, 256, 499 
papershell, 255 
production in the U. S., 256 
yield per acre, 256 


Pectin, 46, 78 

composition, 78 
Pellagra, 137, 312, 440 
Pentosans, 67 
Pepper, green, 276 
analysis of, 501 
capsicum, 418 
cayenne, 418 
Peptones, 107 
Periodicity of elements, 7 
Periodic table of elements, 495 
Peristaltic movements, 77 
Persimmons, 230-232 
history, 230 
analysis of, 231, 498 
Pettenkofer, Dr., on the germ the¬ 
ory, 446 

Phosphates, 96, 101 
Phosphate of, 

ammonia, 134 
calcium, 101, 116, 132 
magnesium, 101 
potassium, 101, 104, 135-139 
sodium, 101 

Phosphorus, 4, 12, 47, 83 
property of, 132-135 
Phosphoric acid, 65, 111, 132-133, 
298, 339 

Phylloxera, cause of, 160 
Pignolias, 257 

analysis of, 499 
Pike, analysis of, 506 
Pie plant (see rhubarb) 

Pilinut, 268 
Pimiento, 276 
Pineapple, 180, 232 

analysis of, 233, 497 
Pine-nuts (pinons), 257, 258 1 
analysis of, 257, 499 
varieties of, 258 
Pistachio, 252 

analysis of, 252, 499 
Pithecanthropus erectus (erect ape 
man), 172 

Plants, activity of, 350 
Plant diseases, 106, 107 
Plant, embryonic, 87 


INDEX 


535 


Plant foods, 102, 103 
Plant growth, normal, 108 
Plato’s “Kepublie” 

discourse of Socrates on whole¬ 
some living, 362 
Plum, 186 

analysis of, 496 
Plumcot, 187 

Plutarch, on man’s natural diet, 169 
Poi, 294 

Pointe Navarre system of making 
bread direct from grain, 
304, 305 
Polenta, 309 

Polishing of rice, 311, 312 
Polysaccharids, 67 
Pomegranate, 230 
analysis of, 498 
Pomelo, 196 

analysis of, 196, 497 
Popcorn, 309 

analysis of, 502 
Popenoe, Wilson 

on the avocado in Guatemala, 
199, 200 
Poppy seed, 320 
analysis of, 503 
oil, 64, 320 

Pork, analysis of, 506 
Porphyry, ancient philosopher, 
on vegetarianism, 353 
Potash, 60 

Potash salts, 92, 106, 107 
Potassium, 4, 12, 83, 92, 99, 106, 107 
Potatoes, 77, 92 

analyses of, 97, 290, 501 
dehydration of, 290 
preparation of, 290 
sweet, 77, 290 
Potato starch, 76, 77 
Preservatives, injurious, 
alum, 423, 427 
benzoic acid, 423, 426 
benzoate of soda, 426 
boron compounds, 423, 425 
copper sulphate, 423, 427 
fluorine compounds, 423, 426 


Preservatives, formaldehyde, 423, 429 
formic acid, 423, 428 
nitric acid, 423 
saccharine, 423, 428 
salicyclic acid, 423, 425 
salt, 423, 424 
saltpetre, 423, 424 
sulphate of lime, 423 
sulphites, 423 
sulphurous acid, 423, 429 
Preservatives, effect upon the sys¬ 
tem, 424 

Prickly pear (cactus fruit), 206 
analysis of, 497 

Prohibition in the United States, 
404, 405 

Protein, 18, 39, 45, 48, 61 
classification of, 49 
composition, of, 49, 50 
diet, high, 53-61 
diet, low, 53-61 

amount in foods, 46, 51, 508, 510 
over-consumption of, 94, 509 
requirement, 52-61, 509 
Protoplasm, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 45, 89 
Protozoa, 16 
Prunes, 186 

analyses of, 186, 496, 498 
Prussian blue, 433 
Psychical conditions, 

their influence upon the body, 15 
Pulses, 315-319 

Pumpernickel (rye-bread), 306 
analysis of, 503 
Pumpkins, 277 

analysis of, 277, 501 
Pure Food Law, federal, 423 
Purin bodies, 
in beer, 350 
in cacao, 350 
in coffee, 350 
in entrails, 350 
in meat, 350 
in vegetables, 350 
in tea, 350 

Pythagoras, on man’s natural diet, 
. 169 


536 


RATIONAL DIET 


Rosenbach, Dr. O., 

on bacteriology, 446 
Rubner, Dr. Max, 

experiments on amount protein 
needed, 60, 476, 509 
Rutabagas, 284, 

analysis of, 501 
Rye, 306, 307 

, 332 analysis of, 502 

Ry-Krisp, 306 

analysis of, 503 


Q 

Quarantine, 446 
Queensland nut, 267, 268 
Quince, 184 

analysis of, 184 

R 

Rachitis, cause of, 117, 127, 128 
Radishes, 284 

analysis of, 501 
Radium, 4, 8, 9, 152 
Radio-activity, 9 
Rainfall, 34 
Raisins, 189 

varieties of, 189 
analysis of, 496 
Rape seed, 320 
oil, 320 

Raspberries, 193 
analysis of, 496 
Raw food, 480, 481 
Reclamation Act of 1902, 391 
Reindeer’s milk, 342 
Rennet, 336, 337 
Respiration, 30, 31 
Respiratory organs, 28 
Rheumatism, 117 

cause and cure, 469 
Rhubarb, 282 

analysis of, 501 
Rice, 310-313 

analysis of, 311, 502 
consumption of, in Japan, 311 
cultivation of, 311 
diet in Japan, 59, 60 
history of, 310 
milling of, 312 
varieties of, 311, 312 
wild, 312 
Ricin, 64 
Ricin olein, 64 
Rickets, 117, 127, 128, 332 
Rockefeller Institute, 446, 456 
Roman Lettuce, 

analysis of, 501 
Roquefort Cheese, 337 


S 

Saccharin, 423, 428 
Saccharose, 67 
Sago, 295 

manufacture of, 296 
analysis of, 503 
St. John’s Bread (see carob) 

Salads, 484, 485 
Salmon, 111 

analysis of, 506 
Salsify, 285 

analysis of, 501 
Salt, 419-421 

composition of, 419 
consumption of, 93, 419 
injurious effects of, 39, 91, 92, 
93, 420, 421 

inorganic, 88, 91, 92, 93 
Salt-licks, 91-92, 421 
Sapodilla, 181, 233 

analysis of, 233, 498 
Saponification of fats, 65 
Sapote, 234 
white, 234 

analysis of, 235, 498 
Sapucaia nuts, 268 
Saurians, 100 
School children, 

defective eyesight of, 441 
defective teeth of, 441 
diet of, 441 
examination of, 441 
Schuessler’s “tissue salts,” 89 
Scrofulosis, 26, 117 
Scurvy, cause of, 130 


INDEX 


537 


Seafoods, analyses of, 505, 506 
Self-control, 461 
Seneca, 169 

on vegetarianism, 353 
Serum, 49, 461 
Serums, 47, 111, 447 
Serum therapy, 334 
Sesame seed, 319 
analysis of, 503 
oil, 64, 319 

Sexual instincts, perverted 
due to irrational living, 363 
Shagbark Hickory, 253, 254 
Shellbark Hickory, 253, 254 
Sorghum, 68, 310 
analysis of, 502 
Silicates, 139 

Silicon, 12, 47, 83, 99, 139, 141 
Silkworm, 100 
Silver, 4 

Simplicity of living, the keynote to 
health, 475 
Skim milk, 335 

analysis of, 335, 505 
Skin, 11, 29, 37 

elimination through, 29, 37, 352 
Smallpox, 98, 448 

in the Philippines, 447 
Smith, Professor J. Russell 
on agriculture, 388-390 
on agriculture on the island of 
Corsica, 389, 390 
on agriculture in France, 389, 
390 

on agriculture on the island of 
Majorca, 389, 390 
Socrates, 169 

on the simple and wholesome 
life, 362 

Sodium, 12, 39, 60, 91, 92, 107 
amount in foods, 112, 511 
deficiency of, 62, 69, 110 
salts, 63 

Sodium chloride, 11, 89-91, 109 
phosphate, 101, 106, 116 
sulphate, 101, 109 


Soft drinks, 39 

artificially colored, 434 
consumption of, 94 
Soil, fertilization, 102, 103, 106, 107, 
108, 155-165 

its relation to health and dis¬ 
ease, 153-165 
impoverished, 103 
importance of organic matter in, 
159 

preservation in Japan and 
China, 155, 156 
Soil-culture, rational, 160-165 
intensive, 396 

Solar energy, stored in plants and 
trees, 394, 395 
Sorrel, 282 

analysis of, 501 
Souari nuts, 269 
Sour Sop 

analysis of, 235, 498 
Soya Sauce, 318 
Soy bean, 316 

analysis of, 504 
cheese (tofu), 317 
oil, 317 

Suggestion, 460 
Sweet Sop, 236 

analysis of, 236, 498 
Specialists, 

treatment of disease by, 98 
Spermatozoon, 23 
Spaghetti, 304 

Spencer, Herbert, oil Vegetarianism, 
353 

Spices, 40, 418-321 
Spinach, 282 

analysis of, 501 
New Zealand, 282 

Spleen, electric power station of sys¬ 
tem, 122-123 
composition of, 506 
Spring wheat, 302 
analysis of, 302 
Squash, 277 

analysis of, 277 
Stack-evaporator, 374 


538 


RATIONAL DIET 


Star Apple, 237 

analysis of, 237, 498 
Starch, 67, 71 

microscopic examination of 
starch grains, 71-73 
raw, 71, 74 

changes during baking and cook¬ 
ing, 74, 75, 76 

digestibility of, 74, 77, 481, 482 
Starchy roots' and tubers, 288-294 
Stearic acid, 63 
Stearin, 63 

Sterilization of milk, 328, 331, 332, 
334 

Stimulants, 401-421 
Strawberries, 194 
analysis of, 496 
Strawberry-guava, 221 
analysis of, 497 
String beans, 315 
analysis of, 504 
Sucrose, 67, 68, 76 
Sugar, 

beets, analysis of, 501 

cane, 67, 68, 69, 314, 315 

fruit, 67, 177 

grape, 67 

invert, 76 

malt, 67 

maple, 68 

milk, 67 

raw, 67 

analysis of, 304 
refined, 68-94 

consumption, 69, 70, 94 
production, 69, 70 
Sugar cane, 314, 315 
analysis of, 504 

Sulphate of calcium, 35, 36, 101 
sodium, 101 

Sulphur, 4, 5, 12, 45, 47, 83, 99, 134- 
139 

in blood plasma, 136 
Sulphurous acid, 

in fruits, 179, 180 
Sulphuric acid, 38, 111 
Sun bath, 26, 27 


Sun drying of foods, 365 
Sunflower seed, 32 
analysis of, 503 
oil, 320 

Sunlight, 24, 25 

effects on plant growth, 25, 26, 
87 

ultraviolet rays of, 25 
Swamp land, reclamation of, 386 
Sweat glands in man, 352 

atrophied in carnivorous ani¬ 
mals, 352 

T 

Tamarinds, 237 

analysis of, 238, 498 
Tangerine, 198 
Tannic acid, 80 
Tannin, 80 
Tapioca, 293 

analysis of, 503 
Taro, 294 

analysis of, 294, 513 
Tartaric acid, 46, 80 
Tea, analysis of, 407 
alkaloids in, 407 
consumption of, 407, 445 
cultivation of, 407 
Paraguay (mate), 409 
physiological action, 407 
Teeth, cause of premature decay, 116 
Tendons, 51 
Theine, 407 
Theobromine, 410 
Therapeutics, 98 
Theriaca, 446 
Thirst, 39, 40, 41 
Tissues, 

oxidation of, 48 
Tissue salts (inorganic), 88 
Thoracic duct, 39 
Thoreau, on Vegetarianism, 361 
Thyroid gland, 144 
Toasting, changes effected by, 76 
Tobacco, 415-417 
alkaloid in, 416 


INDEX 


539 


Tobacco, consumption of, 417, 
444, 445 

cultivation of, 416 
heart, 416 
consumption of, 417 
Tomatoes, 278 

analysis, 208, 501 
Tonsils, enlarged, 462 
cause of, 462 
Tortillas, 309 
Toxemia, 450-454 
Tree planting on road sides, 391 
Trichites, in the formation of starch 
grains, 71, 72 
Trituration, 87 
Tuberculosis, 26, 471-473 
diet in, 472 

economic loss through, 472 
not a germ disease, 471 
statistics, 472 
Tuberculin., failure of, 454 
Tumors, 137 

Tuna, or prickly pear, 206 
Turmeric, 432 
Turnips, 284 

analysis, 501 
Turtle’s blood, 

failure of, in the cure of tuber¬ 
culosis, 454 

U 

Ultramarine, 433 
Unhulled rice, 312 
Uric acid, 38, 350, 352 

V 

Vaccines, 47, 111, 447, 461 
Vaccination, 

a fundamental fallacy, 449 
not based on biological laws, 
450, 451 
in Japan, 448 
in the Philippines, 448 
during the world war, 448 
Dr. Lippincott’s report on, 447 
Vacuum Evaporator, 376 
Varicocele, 440 
Varicose veins, 440 


Vegetables, 

analysis of, 500-501 
classification of, 272 
fertilization of, 271 
properties of, 270, 271 
vitamins in, 279 
Vegetable fruits, 270-278 

green leaf, 65, 93, 94, 279 
roots and bulbs, 283-288 
starchy roots, 288-295 
fungi, 295-297 
juices, 279 
oils, 62-65 
salads, 484, 485 
steamer, 280 

Vegetable Kingdom, the storehouse 
of nutrition, 488 
Vegetable marrow, 277 
analysis of, 277 
Vegetarianism, 478, 479 
criticisms of, 342 
economical aspects of, 360, 361 
ethical aspects of, 363 
sociological aspects, 363 
Herbert Spencer on, 353 
leading exponents of, 353, 354 
among Turks, Japanese and 
Hindoos, 355, 356 
Vegetarians, mistakes of, 343, 477 
Ventilation, 28, 29 
Vibration, 7 

atomic, 10, 11 
cell, 10, 11 
electronic, 7, 10 
law of, 7-10 
therapeutics of, 10 
Villi, 10 

Vinegar, 116, 421 

Vis medicatrix naturae , 460 
Vivisection, 102 

futility of, 455, 456 
Vitality, 88 
electric, 90 
magnetic, 90 
Vitamins, 146-152 

composition of, 146 
in milk, 151 


540 


RATIONAL DIET 


Vitamins, source of, 152 
Vitamin foods, 

artificially prepared, 149, 151 
Voit’s dietary standards, 54 
Volatile oils, 64 

Volcanic ashes, as fertilizers, 160 
Volstead Act, its effect on wine mak¬ 
ing, 444 

W 

Walnuts, 258-260 

analysis of, 259, 499 
Black, 258 
Chinese, 260 
English, 258 
Eureka, 258 
Franquette, 258 
Japanese, 260 
Soft Shell, 258 

Waste products, of metabolism, 102, 
104 

Water, 11, 14, 24, 25, 34, 45 

amount necessary, 38, 39, 41 
boiled, 35 
distilled, 35, 36, 37 
in foods, 38 

in human body, 37, 38, 101 
hard and soft, 34, 36 
lime in, 35, 36 
minerals in, 34, 36, 40 
purification of, 35, 36 
rain, 35 
spring, 35 
vapor, 27 

Water chestnut, 251 
Water Chinquapin, 251 
Watercress, 282 
analysis of, 501 
Watermelon, 274 

analysis of, 275, 496 
Wheat, 301-306 

analysis of, 298, 302, 304, 502 
bran, analysis of, 502 


Wheat, durum, 302 
flour, 302 

germ, analysis of, 502 
spring, 302 
starch, 303 
varieties, 302, 303 
winter, 302 

world’s production, 299, 300 
Whey, 335 

analysis of, 336 

Whortleberry (see huckleberry) 
Wiley, Dr. H. W., 

on sulphuring fruits, 180 
experiments with preservatives, 
425, 429, 430, 431 
Wilke, Mrs. W. S., 

exponent of raw foods, 480, 481 
Wine, 

consumption of, 402-403 
history of, 403 

loss of sugar by fermentation, 
403 

production in California, 189 

X 

X-ray machines, 454 
Xanthins, 351 

Y 

Yams, 294 

analysis of, 294, 503 
Yantia, 294 

analysis of, 294, 503 
Yeast, 76 

Yellow Fever, 473 

Yoghurt, 336 

Yolk of Eggs, 338, 339 

Z 

Zante, currants, 

analysis of, 498 
Zea Mays (Corn), 308 
Zinc poisoning, 35 



















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